Thought for the parish pew slip, prepared (in error!) for Sunday 28th December.
Christmas 1, Year B
Readings: Isaiah 61: 10 – 62: 3 Galatians 4: 4-7 Luke 2: 15-21
In our reading from Isaiah, the prophet has a message of consolation and joy for the beleaguered Jews, who are returning to the ruined city of Jerusalem following 70 years of captivity in Babylon. The prophet foresees the rebuilding of Jerusalem. He rejoices and gives thanks because the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring up like seeds planted in a garden. Jerusalem will experience salvation and vindication and is destined to be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.
God’s promise of salvation also features in our gospel reading. The shepherds were told by an angel that the child born in Bethlehem is a saviour who is Christ the Lord. When they tell this to Joseph and Mary, Mary treasures these words and ponders them in her heart. They must have confirmed for her what the angle Gabriel had already told her (Luke 1: 32-33).
Paul, writing to the Galatians, explains more of what salvation in Christ means. It means having the spirit of Jesus in our hearts, calling out to God the Father, and ensuring that we will be co-heirs with Christ of the glory he receives from God. – Fr Gerard
28 December 2008
26 December 2008
New years resolutions
Article written for the Faith Matters column of the Solihull News for publication on 26th December 2008. (I am not sure whether this edition ever came out)
Every year I have the same New Year’s resolutions! I always try to eat and drink a bit less, and to exercise and rest a bit more. In fact, I find I have to have this resolution all the year round! It is so easy to fall off the programme! It reminds me of Mark Twain, who said, “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.” It would be easy to become disheartened, but somehow it is the process of being honest about the consequences when I get it wrong, that builds within me the desire and aptitude to do better. Very slowly, and through all kinds of ups and downs, I do make progress!
Churches are made up of sinners who are learning to be saints. Some people say that it is hypocritical to try to become better than you really are. They suggest it is more honest to behave as the sinner you are. I don’t agree with this. It is not hypocritical for an uneducated person to go to school and slowly to become educated. Neither is it hypocritical for a sinful person to go to church, to practice living the gospel, and to slowly become a saint. In fact I worry that the person who rejoices in just being a sinner is not being completely honest about the pain that sin causes. It is humbly admitting our sinfulness and accepting the pain it causes that somehow allows God to build the saint within us.
So, how about a New Year’s resolution to become a better person? How about a resolution to grow in love for God, and to grow in love for the people around us? Of course, we know before we start that we will fail miserably! But it is by trying, failing, accepting the suffering and trying again that we allow God to work on us, and ultimately God never fails!
Every year I have the same New Year’s resolutions! I always try to eat and drink a bit less, and to exercise and rest a bit more. In fact, I find I have to have this resolution all the year round! It is so easy to fall off the programme! It reminds me of Mark Twain, who said, “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.” It would be easy to become disheartened, but somehow it is the process of being honest about the consequences when I get it wrong, that builds within me the desire and aptitude to do better. Very slowly, and through all kinds of ups and downs, I do make progress!
Churches are made up of sinners who are learning to be saints. Some people say that it is hypocritical to try to become better than you really are. They suggest it is more honest to behave as the sinner you are. I don’t agree with this. It is not hypocritical for an uneducated person to go to school and slowly to become educated. Neither is it hypocritical for a sinful person to go to church, to practice living the gospel, and to slowly become a saint. In fact I worry that the person who rejoices in just being a sinner is not being completely honest about the pain that sin causes. It is humbly admitting our sinfulness and accepting the pain it causes that somehow allows God to build the saint within us.
So, how about a New Year’s resolution to become a better person? How about a resolution to grow in love for God, and to grow in love for the people around us? Of course, we know before we start that we will fail miserably! But it is by trying, failing, accepting the suffering and trying again that we allow God to work on us, and ultimately God never fails!
21 December 2008
Living the incarnation
Sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 11am Eucharist, 21st December 2008
Advent 4, Year B
Readings: 2 Samuel 7: 1-11 & 16 Romans 16: 25-27 Luke 1: 26-38
In our gospel reading today we heard the extraordinary story of the annunciation; the moment when the angel Gabriel came to visit Mary and to give her the big news. Gabriel tells Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus. He tells her that Jesus is to be the Son of God, the inheritor of the throne of his ancestor King David, and the one who will reign forever in a kingdom without end. This is a big deal. It’s a very big deal. It’s the biggest deal of them all. But Mary seems to cope with it extraordinarily well. She asks for clarification about how she is to become pregnant. The angel explains this point and tells her that her relative Elizabeth is also pregnant. Mary’s final comment is, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” And the angel leaves her.
It is an extraordinary encounter, but it is the news that is brought to Mary that is the most extraordinary thing; that God will take on human flesh in Mary; this is the extraordinary thing. It is the great mystery of God in flesh; the incarnation. God grows in flesh in Mary, from a thing so small that nobody knows it is there, to a embryo, to a foetus, to a baby. God takes on a human body and is born into the world. And this has huge consequences and repercussions.
And one of the consequences, it seems to me, is that a way is opened up whereby God can grow in us. Just as God, who is spirit (2 Cor 3: 17), became flesh, so we who are flesh can become spirit; we can grow into the divine, just as God in Jesus grew into the flesh. It is like the incarnation in reverse.
In our baptism we receive the Holy Spirit, and like a tiny invisible seed within us, this has the potential to grow and develop, so that something spiritual and Christ-like can grow in us and can come to maturity. [The way is opened up for us human beings to participate in the divine life of God (c.f. 2 Peter 1:4), to become children of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing in his sufferings and his glory (Rom 8: 17). We have the opportunity to become children of God, destined to be like Jesus (1 John 3:2).
You might not be aware of it, but this same idea is expressed each time we celebrate the Eucharist, or certainly it is in churches with a more catholic tradition. At the Eucharist, when preparing the chalice of wine, the priest mixes in with the wine a few drops of water and says a quiet prayer, “By this mystery of this water and this wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” The mixture of water with wine is a powerful symbol. It reminds us of flesh and spirit or human and divine. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first miracle is to turn water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee (John 2: 1-11). This miracle reminds us of the power of Jesus to turn humans into a sharing in the divine life of God. There are hints of the same idea when Jesus is pieced on the cross and water and blood flow out (John 19: 34)]
It is very desirable that the seed of spiritual presence of Christ within us grows and develops because this life of Christ in us is eternal life, the life which survives our earthly death. And what do we need to do to make the spiritual presence of Christ within us grow? Well in one way we do not need to do very much. A pregnant woman does not need to do too much to make her baby grow. She needs to keep herself healthy and well nourished and then the baby grows by itself. Similarly we need to keep ourselves spiritually healthy and spiritually nourished, and then the presence of Christ will grow in us, without us needing to worry about it.
And when it comes to keeping ourselves spiritually healthy and well nourished, the most obvious things to do are to come often to the Eucharist, and to set aside time to meditate on the scriptures and to pray. But today I would like to highlight another way of nourishing our spiritual lives and this is the way that we see in Mary in our gospel reading today. When Mary says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” she is accepting and cooperating with God’s plans for her. This is the crucial for us too, for our own spiritual health and nourishment. Accepting and co-operating with God’s plans for us, God’s vision for us, what God has created us for is so important. Only through this obedience can God’s creation in us come to fulfilment. And accepting God’s plans for us requires many things from us. It requires us to listen humbly in front of God in prayer, to understand the things he wants us to understand. It means being ready to lose our own ideas of what we might be or do. Often it can mean letting go of fantasies; the fantasy that all will be well when we are rich or famous, or a celebrity, or popular. Above all it means following God’s will for our lives. Following God’s will truly sustains and nourishes us. This was true even for Jesus. He said “My food is to do this will of him who sent me…” (John 4: 13). Following God’s will sustains us in each present moment of our lives, as we go about our daily business. If we listen to the still small voice of God in our heart, the voice of love, then this prompts us throughout the day. It shows us how to grow in love for God and for other people. God’s whisper in our heart might encourage us to stop and speak to a particular person, to set aside time for prayer, to visit a lonely neighbour, to complete some task, to come to Mass or whatever. And if we practice following the promptings of God all the time on the little things in life then we can be sure that we will know what to do when the big decisions come.
So let’s try always to listen for and to follow the promptings of God in our hearts showing us how to love. In this way let’s walk, in each present moment of our lives, in God’s will for us, in God’s plan for us. Then, by the grace of God’s incarnation we will find ourselves taking part in the spiritual equivalent of what Mary did. Jesus will grow spiritually within us, with wonderful consequences in this world, and eternal life in the next.
Advent 4, Year B
Readings: 2 Samuel 7: 1-11 & 16 Romans 16: 25-27 Luke 1: 26-38
In our gospel reading today we heard the extraordinary story of the annunciation; the moment when the angel Gabriel came to visit Mary and to give her the big news. Gabriel tells Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus. He tells her that Jesus is to be the Son of God, the inheritor of the throne of his ancestor King David, and the one who will reign forever in a kingdom without end. This is a big deal. It’s a very big deal. It’s the biggest deal of them all. But Mary seems to cope with it extraordinarily well. She asks for clarification about how she is to become pregnant. The angel explains this point and tells her that her relative Elizabeth is also pregnant. Mary’s final comment is, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” And the angel leaves her.
It is an extraordinary encounter, but it is the news that is brought to Mary that is the most extraordinary thing; that God will take on human flesh in Mary; this is the extraordinary thing. It is the great mystery of God in flesh; the incarnation. God grows in flesh in Mary, from a thing so small that nobody knows it is there, to a embryo, to a foetus, to a baby. God takes on a human body and is born into the world. And this has huge consequences and repercussions.
And one of the consequences, it seems to me, is that a way is opened up whereby God can grow in us. Just as God, who is spirit (2 Cor 3: 17), became flesh, so we who are flesh can become spirit; we can grow into the divine, just as God in Jesus grew into the flesh. It is like the incarnation in reverse.
In our baptism we receive the Holy Spirit, and like a tiny invisible seed within us, this has the potential to grow and develop, so that something spiritual and Christ-like can grow in us and can come to maturity. [The way is opened up for us human beings to participate in the divine life of God (c.f. 2 Peter 1:4), to become children of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing in his sufferings and his glory (Rom 8: 17). We have the opportunity to become children of God, destined to be like Jesus (1 John 3:2).
You might not be aware of it, but this same idea is expressed each time we celebrate the Eucharist, or certainly it is in churches with a more catholic tradition. At the Eucharist, when preparing the chalice of wine, the priest mixes in with the wine a few drops of water and says a quiet prayer, “By this mystery of this water and this wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” The mixture of water with wine is a powerful symbol. It reminds us of flesh and spirit or human and divine. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first miracle is to turn water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee (John 2: 1-11). This miracle reminds us of the power of Jesus to turn humans into a sharing in the divine life of God. There are hints of the same idea when Jesus is pieced on the cross and water and blood flow out (John 19: 34)]
It is very desirable that the seed of spiritual presence of Christ within us grows and develops because this life of Christ in us is eternal life, the life which survives our earthly death. And what do we need to do to make the spiritual presence of Christ within us grow? Well in one way we do not need to do very much. A pregnant woman does not need to do too much to make her baby grow. She needs to keep herself healthy and well nourished and then the baby grows by itself. Similarly we need to keep ourselves spiritually healthy and spiritually nourished, and then the presence of Christ will grow in us, without us needing to worry about it.
And when it comes to keeping ourselves spiritually healthy and well nourished, the most obvious things to do are to come often to the Eucharist, and to set aside time to meditate on the scriptures and to pray. But today I would like to highlight another way of nourishing our spiritual lives and this is the way that we see in Mary in our gospel reading today. When Mary says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” she is accepting and cooperating with God’s plans for her. This is the crucial for us too, for our own spiritual health and nourishment. Accepting and co-operating with God’s plans for us, God’s vision for us, what God has created us for is so important. Only through this obedience can God’s creation in us come to fulfilment. And accepting God’s plans for us requires many things from us. It requires us to listen humbly in front of God in prayer, to understand the things he wants us to understand. It means being ready to lose our own ideas of what we might be or do. Often it can mean letting go of fantasies; the fantasy that all will be well when we are rich or famous, or a celebrity, or popular. Above all it means following God’s will for our lives. Following God’s will truly sustains and nourishes us. This was true even for Jesus. He said “My food is to do this will of him who sent me…” (John 4: 13). Following God’s will sustains us in each present moment of our lives, as we go about our daily business. If we listen to the still small voice of God in our heart, the voice of love, then this prompts us throughout the day. It shows us how to grow in love for God and for other people. God’s whisper in our heart might encourage us to stop and speak to a particular person, to set aside time for prayer, to visit a lonely neighbour, to complete some task, to come to Mass or whatever. And if we practice following the promptings of God all the time on the little things in life then we can be sure that we will know what to do when the big decisions come.
So let’s try always to listen for and to follow the promptings of God in our hearts showing us how to love. In this way let’s walk, in each present moment of our lives, in God’s will for us, in God’s plan for us. Then, by the grace of God’s incarnation we will find ourselves taking part in the spiritual equivalent of what Mary did. Jesus will grow spiritually within us, with wonderful consequences in this world, and eternal life in the next.
07 December 2008
Christingle Service
Christingle 2008
A service for people who learn by doing - by assembling a Christingle!
Italics indicate a slide is displayed on the screens.
Title slide (toggle with safety notice)
Gathering hymn - 97 - Colours of Day – Display words
The greeting slide
- In the name of the father…
- The Lord be with you…
We light the Easter Candle. Brief explanation - light of world comes at Christmas
We say the response – Display response
Jesus, we thank you that you are the Light of the World.
We thank you that you came into the world at Christmas time. Amen
Introduce first reading - God gave us all the friuts of the earth, and a wonderful creation.
First reading: Genesis 1: 28-31 – Display slide
God blessed the man and the woman, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
- This is the word of the Lord / Thanks be to God
Display picture of fruits
We reflect briefly on God’s love for us in making the world and in giving us our food.
We put the fruit and sweets on the cocktail sticks (but don’t yet put them on the orange).
Hymn 401 - Longing for light, we wait in darkness (Christ be our light) – Display words
Introuduce second reading - by going against God we spoilt the good things he gave us, but God still loves us, and sent Jesus to save us, at great cost.
Second reading: 1 John 4: 9-11 – display slide
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.
- This is the word of the Lord / Thanks be to God
Display picture of crosses
We reflect briefly on God’s love for the world, and on Christ’s blood shed for the world.
We notice the red ribbon on our orange. We put the four cocktails sticks in the orange. With percisings for the four sticks and the hole for the candle we are reminded of the wounds of Christ. Same wounds are marked on the Easter candle.
Hymn – 175 – From heaven you came helpless babe (The servant king) – Display words
Introduce Third Reading - God's light came into the world when Jesus was born. John the Baptist foretold this.
Third reading: John 1: 3-9 – Display slide
All things came into being through Christ, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
- This is the word of the Lord / Thanks be to God
Display bright yellow light picture
We reflect briefly on Christ the light of the world
We fix our candle into our Christingle.
Hymn 393 – Like a candle flame (The candle song) – Display words
Prayers of intercession – Display Lord in thy mercy/Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Children’s Society. We thank you all their work looking after children with difficulties. We thank you that they stand up for childhood. We thank you that the Children’s Society introduced Christingle services 40 years ago. Lord, please bless the Children’s Society and help it in its work.
Lord in your mercy/Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you sent your son Jesus into the world at Christmas time. We thank you for the wonderful good news that Jesus brings. We thank you for all the help and advice that Jesus gives us. We thank you that Jesus was ready to suffer and die for us, to help us be friends with you. Lord, help us to live as Jesus taught us, so that we can be filled with your love.
Lord in your mercy/Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, at this Christmas time we give you thanks for our families and our homes, for our presents and for all the joys of Christmas. We pray Lord for people who have difficulties at Christmas time; people who are sick or homeless or lonely or in any kind of trouble. Help us to love the people we know in difficulty, and grant that all people may know your love this Christmas time.
Lord in your mercy/Hear our prayer
Finish intercessions with Lord’s Prayer. Display Lord’s Prayer
Final Hymn- 416 - Lord, the light of your love (Shine, Jesus, shine) – Display words
During the song we light the Christingles from the Easter Candle.
Blessing and dismissal Display Slide
Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you,scatter the darkness from before your path,and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory;and the blessing of God Almighty,
extinguish candles
Recessional music by the band. Display advert for Christmas services
A service for people who learn by doing - by assembling a Christingle!
Italics indicate a slide is displayed on the screens.
Title slide (toggle with safety notice)
Gathering hymn - 97 - Colours of Day – Display words
The greeting slide
- In the name of the father…
- The Lord be with you…
We light the Easter Candle. Brief explanation - light of world comes at Christmas
We say the response – Display response
Jesus, we thank you that you are the Light of the World.
We thank you that you came into the world at Christmas time. Amen
Introduce first reading - God gave us all the friuts of the earth, and a wonderful creation.
First reading: Genesis 1: 28-31 – Display slide
God blessed the man and the woman, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
- This is the word of the Lord / Thanks be to God
Display picture of fruits
We reflect briefly on God’s love for us in making the world and in giving us our food.
We put the fruit and sweets on the cocktail sticks (but don’t yet put them on the orange).
Hymn 401 - Longing for light, we wait in darkness (Christ be our light) – Display words
Introuduce second reading - by going against God we spoilt the good things he gave us, but God still loves us, and sent Jesus to save us, at great cost.
Second reading: 1 John 4: 9-11 – display slide
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.
- This is the word of the Lord / Thanks be to God
Display picture of crosses
We reflect briefly on God’s love for the world, and on Christ’s blood shed for the world.
We notice the red ribbon on our orange. We put the four cocktails sticks in the orange. With percisings for the four sticks and the hole for the candle we are reminded of the wounds of Christ. Same wounds are marked on the Easter candle.
Hymn – 175 – From heaven you came helpless babe (The servant king) – Display words
Introduce Third Reading - God's light came into the world when Jesus was born. John the Baptist foretold this.
Third reading: John 1: 3-9 – Display slide
All things came into being through Christ, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
- This is the word of the Lord / Thanks be to God
Display bright yellow light picture
We reflect briefly on Christ the light of the world
We fix our candle into our Christingle.
Hymn 393 – Like a candle flame (The candle song) – Display words
Prayers of intercession – Display Lord in thy mercy/Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Children’s Society. We thank you all their work looking after children with difficulties. We thank you that they stand up for childhood. We thank you that the Children’s Society introduced Christingle services 40 years ago. Lord, please bless the Children’s Society and help it in its work.
Lord in your mercy/Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you sent your son Jesus into the world at Christmas time. We thank you for the wonderful good news that Jesus brings. We thank you for all the help and advice that Jesus gives us. We thank you that Jesus was ready to suffer and die for us, to help us be friends with you. Lord, help us to live as Jesus taught us, so that we can be filled with your love.
Lord in your mercy/Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, at this Christmas time we give you thanks for our families and our homes, for our presents and for all the joys of Christmas. We pray Lord for people who have difficulties at Christmas time; people who are sick or homeless or lonely or in any kind of trouble. Help us to love the people we know in difficulty, and grant that all people may know your love this Christmas time.
Lord in your mercy/Hear our prayer
Finish intercessions with Lord’s Prayer. Display Lord’s Prayer
Final Hymn- 416 - Lord, the light of your love (Shine, Jesus, shine) – Display words
During the song we light the Christingles from the Easter Candle.
Blessing and dismissal Display Slide
Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you,scatter the darkness from before your path,and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory;and the blessing of God Almighty,
extinguish candles
Recessional music by the band. Display advert for Christmas services
Good News
Short sermon preached at 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 7th December 2008 Advent 2, Year B.
Readings: Isaiah 40: 1-11 2 Peter 3: 8-15a Mark 1: 1-8
Our gospel reading today is the very start of Mark’s gospel. Mark introduces his gospel as, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” I am always very struck by this bold and clear start to the gospel of Mark. There is a clear affirmation the Jesus is the Son of God and there is a clear affirmation that the gospel is good news, good news.
I think it is very important to train ourselves to have the correct perspective and to understand with joy that the gospel is good news. I remember when I was a student someone said to me, “How can you call the gospel good news? It stops you from smoking and drinking and gambling and womanising. It makes you feel guilty and gives you all kinds of scruples about looking after yourself. It puts you at a big disadvantage in this competitive world.” Well this perspective is very understandable in a post-Christian society, but it is profoundly wrong. It is like the perspective of a playboy who fritters away a huge inheritance and then curses his bankers and benefactors when he finally runs out of money. The good news for this playboy is that he is free to become a responsible adult, to start earning money and to stop spending it. It is good news but with his rather warped perspective the playboy experiences it as bad news.
Sometimes people can think that the gospel is bad news because it recognises and takes account of things that we might like to forget about. As we read today from Isaiah “Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.” We might like to forget that one day we shall die, that all human accomplishments crumble with time and pass away. We might like to forget these things, but they are profoundly true and the gospel accepts them and takes proper account of them. The gospel is completely realistic and honest about what it is to be a human being.
Above all the gospel is good news. As Isaiah said, “the word of our God will stand forever.” Through the gospel we have an extraordinary opportunity to build a life that is eternal (Mark 10:30); a life more wonderful than we can imagine, and yet more natural and befitting to our true selves that we could ever have dared to hope. All we have to do is to follow the commands of the gospel. The gospel calls us always to grow in love for God and for our neighbour. It calls us to be honest about our sin, and to trust in the forgiveness that Christ won for us. It calls to trust that even our frailties and weaknesses are part of God’s love for us, through which his power is revealed (2 Cor 12: 9, Heb 11:34). Above all it calls us to be good disciples of Jesus, following, moment by moment, on the journey that he sets before us, that leads to our perfect fulfilment.
So this Advent, let’s listen to John the Baptist’s call to repentance. Let’s be humble enough to get our perspective right and to see that the gospel really is good news, extraordinary good news. Above all let’s do all our part to live out the gospel commandments so as to bring about the great things promised to us.
Readings: Isaiah 40: 1-11 2 Peter 3: 8-15a Mark 1: 1-8
Our gospel reading today is the very start of Mark’s gospel. Mark introduces his gospel as, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” I am always very struck by this bold and clear start to the gospel of Mark. There is a clear affirmation the Jesus is the Son of God and there is a clear affirmation that the gospel is good news, good news.
I think it is very important to train ourselves to have the correct perspective and to understand with joy that the gospel is good news. I remember when I was a student someone said to me, “How can you call the gospel good news? It stops you from smoking and drinking and gambling and womanising. It makes you feel guilty and gives you all kinds of scruples about looking after yourself. It puts you at a big disadvantage in this competitive world.” Well this perspective is very understandable in a post-Christian society, but it is profoundly wrong. It is like the perspective of a playboy who fritters away a huge inheritance and then curses his bankers and benefactors when he finally runs out of money. The good news for this playboy is that he is free to become a responsible adult, to start earning money and to stop spending it. It is good news but with his rather warped perspective the playboy experiences it as bad news.
Sometimes people can think that the gospel is bad news because it recognises and takes account of things that we might like to forget about. As we read today from Isaiah “Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.” We might like to forget that one day we shall die, that all human accomplishments crumble with time and pass away. We might like to forget these things, but they are profoundly true and the gospel accepts them and takes proper account of them. The gospel is completely realistic and honest about what it is to be a human being.
Above all the gospel is good news. As Isaiah said, “the word of our God will stand forever.” Through the gospel we have an extraordinary opportunity to build a life that is eternal (Mark 10:30); a life more wonderful than we can imagine, and yet more natural and befitting to our true selves that we could ever have dared to hope. All we have to do is to follow the commands of the gospel. The gospel calls us always to grow in love for God and for our neighbour. It calls us to be honest about our sin, and to trust in the forgiveness that Christ won for us. It calls to trust that even our frailties and weaknesses are part of God’s love for us, through which his power is revealed (2 Cor 12: 9, Heb 11:34). Above all it calls us to be good disciples of Jesus, following, moment by moment, on the journey that he sets before us, that leads to our perfect fulfilment.
So this Advent, let’s listen to John the Baptist’s call to repentance. Let’s be humble enough to get our perspective right and to see that the gospel really is good news, extraordinary good news. Above all let’s do all our part to live out the gospel commandments so as to bring about the great things promised to us.
01 December 2008
Deakness and light
Editorial for the December Parish Magazine
In terms of weather it was a disappointing summer. It already feels to me as though we have had a long, dark winter, and we haven’t really started yet! I find that I am looking forward to that magical moment in December when the days start to get longer again.
According to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, this year’s winter solstice occurs at 12:04 on 21st December. This is the moment when the tilt of the earth’s axis of rotation is exactly in line with the sun. Each year the winter solstice occurs about six hours later than the year before, and then every fourth year we put 24 extra hours into our calendar (on 29th February), so the time of the solstice jumps back about 18 hours. This ensures that the winter solstice always ocurs on 21st or 22nd December.
On 21st December sunrise in the Midlands will be 08:18 and sunset will be 15:53. This gives us 7 hours, 35 minutes of daytime. London will get 10 minutes more daytime that day, because it is nearer to the equator, but Glasgow will get 43 minutes less.
There is a saying that, “The darkest hour is the one before sunrise”. For Christians in the northern hemisphere it feels more like, “The darkest day is the one before the great light.” Just four days after the winter solstice we celebrate the birth of Jesus; the coming into the world of the true light, that enlightens everyone (c.f. John 1: 9); the light of the world (John 8: 12).
We can understand what it means to say Jesus is the light of the world if we think what it is like to exist in the dark. In the dark it is hard to move around the house. It is hard to find things. It is hard to do the simplest thing. We are clumsy and prone to accidents, and we find it easy to get lost or confused. But then when the light comes, suddenly everything gets easier. It is much easier to achieve things, to make progress and it is much safer too. Jesus has exactly this effect on our spiritual lives. Without Jesus the spiritual life is very hard. We can’t see where we are going or how to get there. Helping each other is difficult, and it is easy to make damaging mistakes. But the teaching and example of Jesus is our light and shows us what to do. We need to grow in love for God and love for one another. We need to follow God’s will for our lives, trusting that God’s path for us will bring us fulfilment, even if there are great difficulties on the way.
But then there is an even bigger problem with trying to exist in darkness. Light is essential for plants to grow. With no light we have no plants and no food to sustain our lives. Just as light gives life to plants, so Jesus gives us eternal life (e.g. John 5: 21, 24, 26). Jesus is light in the sense that he gives us life.
So in the dark month of December we have a wonderful consolation in the great light that is given to us at Christmas. Let’s use Advent to prepare well, so we are ready to welcome the great light when he comes.
In terms of weather it was a disappointing summer. It already feels to me as though we have had a long, dark winter, and we haven’t really started yet! I find that I am looking forward to that magical moment in December when the days start to get longer again.
According to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, this year’s winter solstice occurs at 12:04 on 21st December. This is the moment when the tilt of the earth’s axis of rotation is exactly in line with the sun. Each year the winter solstice occurs about six hours later than the year before, and then every fourth year we put 24 extra hours into our calendar (on 29th February), so the time of the solstice jumps back about 18 hours. This ensures that the winter solstice always ocurs on 21st or 22nd December.
On 21st December sunrise in the Midlands will be 08:18 and sunset will be 15:53. This gives us 7 hours, 35 minutes of daytime. London will get 10 minutes more daytime that day, because it is nearer to the equator, but Glasgow will get 43 minutes less.
There is a saying that, “The darkest hour is the one before sunrise”. For Christians in the northern hemisphere it feels more like, “The darkest day is the one before the great light.” Just four days after the winter solstice we celebrate the birth of Jesus; the coming into the world of the true light, that enlightens everyone (c.f. John 1: 9); the light of the world (John 8: 12).
We can understand what it means to say Jesus is the light of the world if we think what it is like to exist in the dark. In the dark it is hard to move around the house. It is hard to find things. It is hard to do the simplest thing. We are clumsy and prone to accidents, and we find it easy to get lost or confused. But then when the light comes, suddenly everything gets easier. It is much easier to achieve things, to make progress and it is much safer too. Jesus has exactly this effect on our spiritual lives. Without Jesus the spiritual life is very hard. We can’t see where we are going or how to get there. Helping each other is difficult, and it is easy to make damaging mistakes. But the teaching and example of Jesus is our light and shows us what to do. We need to grow in love for God and love for one another. We need to follow God’s will for our lives, trusting that God’s path for us will bring us fulfilment, even if there are great difficulties on the way.
But then there is an even bigger problem with trying to exist in darkness. Light is essential for plants to grow. With no light we have no plants and no food to sustain our lives. Just as light gives life to plants, so Jesus gives us eternal life (e.g. John 5: 21, 24, 26). Jesus is light in the sense that he gives us life.
So in the dark month of December we have a wonderful consolation in the great light that is given to us at Christmas. Let’s use Advent to prepare well, so we are ready to welcome the great light when he comes.
30 November 2008
Waiting for Jesus
Preached at 10am Eucharist at St Michael’s Church, Handsworth, Diocese of Birmingham on 30th November 2008
Advent Sunday, Year B.
Readings Isaiah 64: 1-9 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9 Mark 13: 24-end
Today is Advent Sunday, and it is the start of a new year in the life of the Church. So Happy New Year! Each year the Church starts its new year on Advent Sunday, four Sundays before Christmas, and this period from today up until Christmas Eve, we call Advent. Advent is all about waiting for Jesus. It is about preparing for the coming of Jesus. And there are two different ways in which we are preparing for the coming of Jesus.
On the one hand we are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus; we are preparing for Christmas. In our families, we start doing our Christmas shopping and we start preparing our Christmas dinners. In the Church we remember people like John the Baptist and Mary, who have important roles to play just before Jesus bursts onto the scene.
But preparing for the coming of the baby Jesus at Christmastime is only one half of what Advent is all about, and we tend to do that more in the second half of Advent. In first half of Advent we are still thinking about the coming of Jesus, but we are thinking much more about the second coming of Jesus, that we read about today in Mark’s gospel. In Mark’s gospel Jesus warns us that his second coming will be preceded by earthquakes and famines and wars. In those days there will be suffering such as has never been seen since the world was created. The after the great suffering the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory, and he will send his angels to gather his elect from the four corners of the world.
Now in Mark’s gospel, the prophecies about the second coming of Christ are very closely woven in with prophecies about another important event. This section of Mark’s gospel starts at the beginning of chapter 13 with the disciples admiring the great temple buildings. Jesus tells them that the wonderful buildings will be completely torn down, with not one stone left upon another. This is a prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army, which took place in the year 70 AD. The destruction of the temple and the expelling of the Jews from the Jerusalem was like an end of the world experience for the Jews. It is quite hard to unpick what Jesus is saying about the destruction of the temple from what he is saying about the return of the Son of Man at the end of time. When he says, “I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place,” he is presumably talking about the destruction of the temple. When he says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father,” he is presumably talking about the second coming.
At first sight it might seem difficult and confusing that these two prophecies are closely bound together and hard to separate apart, but I suspect that this is quite deliberate on God’s part. For God, who stands outside of time, it may well be that the two events are very closely related; two parts of the same process. Also it serves to emphasis the main point that Jesus is making; that we need to keep awake and alert because the second coming of Christ could be at any moment. Even though 2000 years have gone by, we still need to keep awake and expect the second coming of Christ at any moment.
As I read our readings for today, two points in particular stood out for me. Isaiah says, “because you hid yourself, we transgressed,” (v5). He also says, “you have hidden your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity,” (v7). This does seem to describe the situation of our western world today. God appears to be absent. God is not talked about very much by our politicians or civil servants or business leaders. News broadcasts seldom consider stories from a religious perspective. Our society seems to become more and more selfish and individualistic. We all find it harder and harder to find our right place in society, to become the people God created us to be, and the church seems to struggle. And when we look to other places, to China and Asia and Africa it seems different. Despite many terrible sufferings and difficulties, God seems more present and the church seems to grow. And so it seems to me particularly important that in the western world we redouble our efforts to stay awake and be ready for the second coming of Christ, which we know will come suddenly, when it is least expected.
And the other point that stood out for me as I read our scripture readings was the word “waiting”, “waiting on Jesus”. In the Isaiah reading we are told that God works for those who wait on him (v4). Paul describes the church in Corinth as waiting for the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the gospel Jesus says that we are like slaves put in charge of a house when the master is away. We must stay awake and await his return because we do not know when it will be.
Waiting on Jesus. This is a theme of Advent. Of course we find waiting very hard. It requires patience and faithfulness, and trust that Jesus really will return. But this is the challenge of Advent. And notice that waiting on Jesus is very similar to being a servant of Jesus. To “waits at table” and to “serve at table” is the same thing. Certainly servants spend a lot of time waiting for their masters.
So this Advent we continue to wait expectantly for the coming of Christ. We have be waiting for this for 2000 years, but we continue to wait, because this is part of our service to Jesus. And what is the best way of waiting on Jesus, of serving Jesus? Well I think there was a very good answer in the gospel reading that we read last week. Jesus said, “what ever you do to the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me.” This means that we can wait on Jesus, we can serve Jesus, by serving on him present in other people. If we take good care of the people around us, if we do our part to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, take care of the sick, then we are serving Jesus, we are waiting on Jesus. And it seems to me that this is the best preparation we can make for the second coming of Christ. If when the master returns he find his servants busy loving and serving him present in the people around them, then surely he will know that his servants are faithful and true, and surely this will be well rewarded.
Advent Sunday, Year B.
Readings Isaiah 64: 1-9 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9 Mark 13: 24-end
Today is Advent Sunday, and it is the start of a new year in the life of the Church. So Happy New Year! Each year the Church starts its new year on Advent Sunday, four Sundays before Christmas, and this period from today up until Christmas Eve, we call Advent. Advent is all about waiting for Jesus. It is about preparing for the coming of Jesus. And there are two different ways in which we are preparing for the coming of Jesus.
On the one hand we are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus; we are preparing for Christmas. In our families, we start doing our Christmas shopping and we start preparing our Christmas dinners. In the Church we remember people like John the Baptist and Mary, who have important roles to play just before Jesus bursts onto the scene.
But preparing for the coming of the baby Jesus at Christmastime is only one half of what Advent is all about, and we tend to do that more in the second half of Advent. In first half of Advent we are still thinking about the coming of Jesus, but we are thinking much more about the second coming of Jesus, that we read about today in Mark’s gospel. In Mark’s gospel Jesus warns us that his second coming will be preceded by earthquakes and famines and wars. In those days there will be suffering such as has never been seen since the world was created. The after the great suffering the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory, and he will send his angels to gather his elect from the four corners of the world.
Now in Mark’s gospel, the prophecies about the second coming of Christ are very closely woven in with prophecies about another important event. This section of Mark’s gospel starts at the beginning of chapter 13 with the disciples admiring the great temple buildings. Jesus tells them that the wonderful buildings will be completely torn down, with not one stone left upon another. This is a prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army, which took place in the year 70 AD. The destruction of the temple and the expelling of the Jews from the Jerusalem was like an end of the world experience for the Jews. It is quite hard to unpick what Jesus is saying about the destruction of the temple from what he is saying about the return of the Son of Man at the end of time. When he says, “I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place,” he is presumably talking about the destruction of the temple. When he says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father,” he is presumably talking about the second coming.
At first sight it might seem difficult and confusing that these two prophecies are closely bound together and hard to separate apart, but I suspect that this is quite deliberate on God’s part. For God, who stands outside of time, it may well be that the two events are very closely related; two parts of the same process. Also it serves to emphasis the main point that Jesus is making; that we need to keep awake and alert because the second coming of Christ could be at any moment. Even though 2000 years have gone by, we still need to keep awake and expect the second coming of Christ at any moment.
As I read our readings for today, two points in particular stood out for me. Isaiah says, “because you hid yourself, we transgressed,” (v5). He also says, “you have hidden your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity,” (v7). This does seem to describe the situation of our western world today. God appears to be absent. God is not talked about very much by our politicians or civil servants or business leaders. News broadcasts seldom consider stories from a religious perspective. Our society seems to become more and more selfish and individualistic. We all find it harder and harder to find our right place in society, to become the people God created us to be, and the church seems to struggle. And when we look to other places, to China and Asia and Africa it seems different. Despite many terrible sufferings and difficulties, God seems more present and the church seems to grow. And so it seems to me particularly important that in the western world we redouble our efforts to stay awake and be ready for the second coming of Christ, which we know will come suddenly, when it is least expected.
And the other point that stood out for me as I read our scripture readings was the word “waiting”, “waiting on Jesus”. In the Isaiah reading we are told that God works for those who wait on him (v4). Paul describes the church in Corinth as waiting for the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the gospel Jesus says that we are like slaves put in charge of a house when the master is away. We must stay awake and await his return because we do not know when it will be.
Waiting on Jesus. This is a theme of Advent. Of course we find waiting very hard. It requires patience and faithfulness, and trust that Jesus really will return. But this is the challenge of Advent. And notice that waiting on Jesus is very similar to being a servant of Jesus. To “waits at table” and to “serve at table” is the same thing. Certainly servants spend a lot of time waiting for their masters.
So this Advent we continue to wait expectantly for the coming of Christ. We have be waiting for this for 2000 years, but we continue to wait, because this is part of our service to Jesus. And what is the best way of waiting on Jesus, of serving Jesus? Well I think there was a very good answer in the gospel reading that we read last week. Jesus said, “what ever you do to the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me.” This means that we can wait on Jesus, we can serve Jesus, by serving on him present in other people. If we take good care of the people around us, if we do our part to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, take care of the sick, then we are serving Jesus, we are waiting on Jesus. And it seems to me that this is the best preparation we can make for the second coming of Christ. If when the master returns he find his servants busy loving and serving him present in the people around them, then surely he will know that his servants are faithful and true, and surely this will be well rewarded.
27 November 2008
Growing the Kingdom of God
Funeral homily preached on Thursday 27th November 2008, 11am at Robin Hood Crematorium.
Reading: Mark 4: 26-34
Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables,
oooOOOooo
??? was a great lover of gardening. She loved planting seeds and cuttings and watching them grow. She might have appreciated the reading that we heard a moment ago from Mark’s gospel.
In the reading, Jesus tells us two parables. In both parables the Kingdom of God is compared to a plant that grows. In the first parable Jesus says that when we plant a seed of grain and watch it grow, it is something of a mystery to us how it grows. We know we need to take care of the seed, giving it water and light, but the growing it does by itself. And when it has grown, one grain of wheat produces a whole head of corn, a harvest many times greater than itself. We harvest the grain, and rejoice in the good things we receive through the harvest.
In the second parable Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It starts off as a very small seed, yet over time it grows to be the greatest of all shrubs.
Well ??? has been growing on this earth for 88 years, and now, for her, harvest time has come. God has taken her home. It is a sad time for us, who are left with the stubble in the field, but in heaven there is rejoicing in the good things received there. Of course, we do not know how rich or poor the harvest in heaven has been. We know that Beatrice was baptised and confirmed in the Church of England, so we know that good seed was sown in her. We also know that she was not a great churchgoer, so perhaps the seed did not get as much light and water as it might have liked, but we trust in the remarkable and mysterious love of God, that allows many plants to grow, even where we do little to look after them.
So today, as we commend ??? to Almighty God, let us trust in his great love and mercy and let us have hope. Let us trust that any failing and difficulties and weaknesses in her can be restored through the death and resurrection of Christ. Let us trust that we will see her again, when we ourselves die. Let us prepare well for that day by living our lives in the love of God, because God’s love is like the light and water that makes a plant grow. It’s God’s love that allows the kingdom of God to grow in us. It is God’s love that will bring us one day to a successful harvest, and to a great reunion in heaven.
Reading: Mark 4: 26-34
Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables,
oooOOOooo
??? was a great lover of gardening. She loved planting seeds and cuttings and watching them grow. She might have appreciated the reading that we heard a moment ago from Mark’s gospel.
In the reading, Jesus tells us two parables. In both parables the Kingdom of God is compared to a plant that grows. In the first parable Jesus says that when we plant a seed of grain and watch it grow, it is something of a mystery to us how it grows. We know we need to take care of the seed, giving it water and light, but the growing it does by itself. And when it has grown, one grain of wheat produces a whole head of corn, a harvest many times greater than itself. We harvest the grain, and rejoice in the good things we receive through the harvest.
In the second parable Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It starts off as a very small seed, yet over time it grows to be the greatest of all shrubs.
Well ??? has been growing on this earth for 88 years, and now, for her, harvest time has come. God has taken her home. It is a sad time for us, who are left with the stubble in the field, but in heaven there is rejoicing in the good things received there. Of course, we do not know how rich or poor the harvest in heaven has been. We know that Beatrice was baptised and confirmed in the Church of England, so we know that good seed was sown in her. We also know that she was not a great churchgoer, so perhaps the seed did not get as much light and water as it might have liked, but we trust in the remarkable and mysterious love of God, that allows many plants to grow, even where we do little to look after them.
So today, as we commend ??? to Almighty God, let us trust in his great love and mercy and let us have hope. Let us trust that any failing and difficulties and weaknesses in her can be restored through the death and resurrection of Christ. Let us trust that we will see her again, when we ourselves die. Let us prepare well for that day by living our lives in the love of God, because God’s love is like the light and water that makes a plant grow. It’s God’s love that allows the kingdom of God to grow in us. It is God’s love that will bring us one day to a successful harvest, and to a great reunion in heaven.
23 November 2008
Christ the King
Thought for parish pew slip – Sunday 23rd November 2008
Christ the King – Year A
Readings: Ezekiel 34: 11-16 & 20-24 Ephesians 1: 15-23 Matthew 25: 31-46
While God’s people Israel are suffering during their terrible exile in Babylon in the 6th Century BC, the prophet Ezekiel speaks to them with a message of hope. He tells of a time when God himself will come to shepherd his flock, the people of Israel, and to gather them together once again in their own land. God will judge between sheep and sheep, and David will rule over them. Christians see this prophecy fulfilled in Jesus who is the Good Shepherd, the Son of God and a descendent of David.
In our reading from Ephesians, Paul emphasises the great hope to which God calls us; the riches of a glorious inheritance and the immeasurable greatness of God’s power. This power was put to work in Christ who is now high above all power and dominion.
In our gospel reading Jesus tells us about the final judgement to take place at the end of time. We will be judged according to how well we have treated Jesus present in the people around us. Have we helped the people around us in practical ways, seeking their good, or have we ignored them, thinking only of ourselves?
Christ the King – Year A
Readings: Ezekiel 34: 11-16 & 20-24 Ephesians 1: 15-23 Matthew 25: 31-46
While God’s people Israel are suffering during their terrible exile in Babylon in the 6th Century BC, the prophet Ezekiel speaks to them with a message of hope. He tells of a time when God himself will come to shepherd his flock, the people of Israel, and to gather them together once again in their own land. God will judge between sheep and sheep, and David will rule over them. Christians see this prophecy fulfilled in Jesus who is the Good Shepherd, the Son of God and a descendent of David.
In our reading from Ephesians, Paul emphasises the great hope to which God calls us; the riches of a glorious inheritance and the immeasurable greatness of God’s power. This power was put to work in Christ who is now high above all power and dominion.
In our gospel reading Jesus tells us about the final judgement to take place at the end of time. We will be judged according to how well we have treated Jesus present in the people around us. Have we helped the people around us in practical ways, seeking their good, or have we ignored them, thinking only of ourselves?
16 November 2008
Warnings of judgement and Choir Sunday
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 9.15 and Eucharist
Sunday 16th November 2008 – Second Sunday before Advent (Year A)
Choir Sunday
Readings: Zaphaniah 1: 7 & 12-18 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 Matthew 25: 14-30
Our readings today are about the Lord coming in Judgement, and they have a fearful quality. Since the earliest times in the Church we have been expecting the second coming of Christ. Jesus told us that the day or the hour of that second coming is not known by anyone, not even by Jesus himself (Matt 24: 36), but there has always been an expectation that it will be “soon”. Well 2000 years have gone by and it has not come yet and there is a danger that we become complacent. There is a danger that we become like the man who thought he would never die. Every morning when he woke up he would say, “There we are, another night safely past. Experience confirms that I wake up every morning.” As time went by the man had more and more evidence that he woke up again every time he went to sleep. As he got older he became more and more convinced that he would never die. By the time he was in his 90s he was completely certain of it!
So in the Church we continue to expect the second coming of Christ, and as our reading from Zephaniah suggests that it will be a terrible day when it comes. Zephaniah was prophesying in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in about 590 BC. That was the terrible day of the Lord about which he spoke, but he words can also be applied to us as we await the second coming of Christ.
In the letter from Paul to the Thessalonians that was our second reading, Paul also warns that the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. He urges us to walk in the light, in faith, in love and in the hope of salvation. That way, whether we live or whether we die we will find our salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our reading from Matthew was a reading about Judgment. When the Lord returns he will want to know how we have used to good gifts he has given us. Have we used them well for the good of many, so that the gifts multiply? Or have we hidden the gifts away so that they have been of no benefit to anyone?
Next week we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. We know that when the Lord comes it will be terrifying and there will be judgement. But after the judgement, the Lord will establish his reign of peace. All things will be put under his feet (Eph 1: 22). We will know him as king. But more of that next week.
Meanwhile this week it is choir Sunday. Choir Sunday gives us an opportunity to celebrate our choirs and to give thanks for all that they contribute to our worship and to the life of this church. A tremendous amount of work goes into our choirs. Those who do the singing work very hard and give up a lot of their time to do it. And then they are supported by many, many people. Most obviously they are supported by Nigel Stark our Director of Music. Our assistant organist Jon contributed a great deal, until his recent resignation. The Friends of the Music play an important role in organising choir events and raising money for events and training. Then there are all the choir parents who bring their children to choir practices and to worship each week. Then there are many other families of choir members who to a greater or lesser extent find themselves organising their lives around the choir commitments. So to all of these we are very grateful today, because they all contribute to the work of our choirs, and our choirs add depth and breadth to our worship through their music. The singing of the choirs contributes hugely to the sense of occasion at our regular Sunday worship and at special services such as weddings, civic services, and carol services. I believe that our worship with the music of the choirs help us to prepare ourselves for the worship of heaven where the book of Revelation tells us there will be lots of singing around the throne of God (e.g. Rev 5: 11-13 or 7: 11-12).
At St Alphege we actually have four choirs. The boys and the men are singing with us at this service. At the 11o’clock the girls choir will be singing, and then at a special Choral Evensong this evening the ladies choir (including the senior girls) will be singing with the boys and men. Being part of the choir is a wonderful way to participate in the life and worship of our church community. I have asked six of our choir members to come forward now and tell us a little bit about that.
Choir Interview - Questions for:
Two longest serving choir members: Michael Palmer and John Emmett.
Four newest choristers: Jonathan, Samuel, William and Dylan, all aged 8.
Let’s start with the young ones.
How old are you? How long have you been signing in the choir?
What do you enjoy most about singing in the choir?
What is your favourite bit of choir music?
What is the hardest thing about being in the choir?
Now let’s ask some questions of our long serving members.
How old were you when you started singing in church choirs?
Do you remember being trebles like these four here?
[To John] And where was that? And when did you join this choir?
[To Michael] Where were you a treble?
You have obviously both put a huge amount of energy into the choir over the years, and we are very grateful for the contribution you have made. But I wonder, what do you feel you have got out of this experience for yourselves? How do you feel you have benefited?
Then I have got one last question for the younger ones.
They can remember when they were like you. Do you ever think you will be like them?
Sunday 16th November 2008 – Second Sunday before Advent (Year A)
Choir Sunday
Readings: Zaphaniah 1: 7 & 12-18 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 Matthew 25: 14-30
Our readings today are about the Lord coming in Judgement, and they have a fearful quality. Since the earliest times in the Church we have been expecting the second coming of Christ. Jesus told us that the day or the hour of that second coming is not known by anyone, not even by Jesus himself (Matt 24: 36), but there has always been an expectation that it will be “soon”. Well 2000 years have gone by and it has not come yet and there is a danger that we become complacent. There is a danger that we become like the man who thought he would never die. Every morning when he woke up he would say, “There we are, another night safely past. Experience confirms that I wake up every morning.” As time went by the man had more and more evidence that he woke up again every time he went to sleep. As he got older he became more and more convinced that he would never die. By the time he was in his 90s he was completely certain of it!
So in the Church we continue to expect the second coming of Christ, and as our reading from Zephaniah suggests that it will be a terrible day when it comes. Zephaniah was prophesying in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in about 590 BC. That was the terrible day of the Lord about which he spoke, but he words can also be applied to us as we await the second coming of Christ.
In the letter from Paul to the Thessalonians that was our second reading, Paul also warns that the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. He urges us to walk in the light, in faith, in love and in the hope of salvation. That way, whether we live or whether we die we will find our salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our reading from Matthew was a reading about Judgment. When the Lord returns he will want to know how we have used to good gifts he has given us. Have we used them well for the good of many, so that the gifts multiply? Or have we hidden the gifts away so that they have been of no benefit to anyone?
Next week we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. We know that when the Lord comes it will be terrifying and there will be judgement. But after the judgement, the Lord will establish his reign of peace. All things will be put under his feet (Eph 1: 22). We will know him as king. But more of that next week.
Meanwhile this week it is choir Sunday. Choir Sunday gives us an opportunity to celebrate our choirs and to give thanks for all that they contribute to our worship and to the life of this church. A tremendous amount of work goes into our choirs. Those who do the singing work very hard and give up a lot of their time to do it. And then they are supported by many, many people. Most obviously they are supported by Nigel Stark our Director of Music. Our assistant organist Jon contributed a great deal, until his recent resignation. The Friends of the Music play an important role in organising choir events and raising money for events and training. Then there are all the choir parents who bring their children to choir practices and to worship each week. Then there are many other families of choir members who to a greater or lesser extent find themselves organising their lives around the choir commitments. So to all of these we are very grateful today, because they all contribute to the work of our choirs, and our choirs add depth and breadth to our worship through their music. The singing of the choirs contributes hugely to the sense of occasion at our regular Sunday worship and at special services such as weddings, civic services, and carol services. I believe that our worship with the music of the choirs help us to prepare ourselves for the worship of heaven where the book of Revelation tells us there will be lots of singing around the throne of God (e.g. Rev 5: 11-13 or 7: 11-12).
At St Alphege we actually have four choirs. The boys and the men are singing with us at this service. At the 11o’clock the girls choir will be singing, and then at a special Choral Evensong this evening the ladies choir (including the senior girls) will be singing with the boys and men. Being part of the choir is a wonderful way to participate in the life and worship of our church community. I have asked six of our choir members to come forward now and tell us a little bit about that.
Choir Interview - Questions for:
Two longest serving choir members: Michael Palmer and John Emmett.
Four newest choristers: Jonathan, Samuel, William and Dylan, all aged 8.
Let’s start with the young ones.
How old are you? How long have you been signing in the choir?
What do you enjoy most about singing in the choir?
What is your favourite bit of choir music?
What is the hardest thing about being in the choir?
Now let’s ask some questions of our long serving members.
How old were you when you started singing in church choirs?
Do you remember being trebles like these four here?
[To John] And where was that? And when did you join this choir?
[To Michael] Where were you a treble?
You have obviously both put a huge amount of energy into the choir over the years, and we are very grateful for the contribution you have made. But I wonder, what do you feel you have got out of this experience for yourselves? How do you feel you have benefited?
Then I have got one last question for the younger ones.
They can remember when they were like you. Do you ever think you will be like them?
09 November 2008
Remembrance Sunday
Preached at the Civic Remembrance Day Service at St Alphege Church, Solihull following the 11am Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial.
Remembrance Sunday, 9th November 2008
Why is it that we feel such a compelling need to remember those who have been killed or injured by war? Why is it that this annual time Remembrance in November is so important to us?
Well these are deep questions. But, we need periodically to remind ourselves of the great sacrifices made for us by other people. We need to remind ourselves of our history, and how we came to be the people we now are. We need to show our respect for the fallen and to give thanks for what they have won for us. And this annual reflection in November is not simply about looking back. It has profound implications for the way we live our lives and for the future that we seek to bring about.
I would like to share with you a story about Remembrance Sunday 1999 and about the changes that that it brought about for me personally. 1999 was before my priesthood days. I was working for British Gas on Homer Road, here in Solihull. We lived in Shirley, and we worshipped at St James the Great in Shirley where Fr Michael Caddy is the Rector.
Some weeks beforehand, Fr Michael had asked my wife Elaine to sing a song at the 9.30 service on Remembrance Sunday. The song was “Green Fields of France”. The song recounts the words of a weary traveller who sits down beside the gravestone of a Great War soldier and starts talking to the dead Soldier.
In the days building up to Remembrance Sunday Elaine was practising her singing around the house. As this went on I began to find it more and more annoying! It’s not, I am sure you understand, that my wife is bad at singing; quite the opposite in fact, but I realised it was a particular line from the song which was annoying me. The line was “I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean.” I pondered this line, “I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean” and I realised that the reason I did not like it was because it seemed to me that to hope for a quick and clean death, is rather a limited hope. Certainly I found that my own hope for the dead soldier was much bigger than that, much fuller than that.
First of all I found that I wanted to hope that the soldier was now enjoying eternal life. I wanted to hope that as he died on the battle field he was met by the angels and saints and led away to a heavenly reward in Jesus’ eternal kingdom.
Then I wanted to hope that the value of his sacrifice was properly recognised. Surely, his sacrifice makes up for a multitude of sins, and helps humanity to be reconciled to God. Surely his sacrifice contributed towards the winning of the war, and the securing of freedom for this nation. I found I wanted to hope that it also contributed to reconciliation between nations, and towards the building of peace and justice in the whole world.
Then I found I wanted to say thank you to the soldier for the great contribution he has made. To thank him for his sacrifice, to recognise and value the great cost that was paid. To recognise and value the loss borne by others; by the parents who mourn, by the sweetheart who perhaps lost a future husband, by friends and comrades and those who had lost a brother.
As I said, I pondered these things and wrote them down and discussed them with Fr Michael. Fr Michael invited me to share these things with the congregation after Elaine had sung the song. I did that, and I suppose, in a way, it was one of my first ever sermons.
In my reactions to the song I said that “I wanted to hope”. And I think that this is the situation for many of us on Remembrance Sunday. We want to hope in these things. We profoundly want them. At the same time, we have to admit that it can be difficult. In this day and age it is hard to have faith. It is hard to see value in suffering. It is hard to have hope that the world is guided by a God who is good, that it is getting closer to a destiny that is good.
And that was the strange thing; the truly remarkable thing. As I worked through the Remembrance process in 1999, I discovered that despite all the difficulties, despite all the suffering, I really did believe in these things. I really did hope for the eternal life of the soldier. I really did value his sacrifice. I really did believe that it brought closer the peace and unity of the world. I really was thankful for the difference the dead soldier made. I did feel some real empathy with the great cost that was paid.
After the remembrance service of 1999 my wife asked when I was going to get ordained; that is to become a priest. I laughed it off, but just seven weeks later I had an extraordinary dream. I realised that ordination was indeed the way forward for me, the way that God calls me, personally, to make my own small contribution.
So the process of remembrance in 1999 made a huge difference to me. It is my hope that in 2008, and indeed in every year, the Remembrance process that we go through will make a difference. I hope that it will remind us of the blood, sweat and tears, and above all the many, many lives that have been invested in the freedom of our nation today. I hope that it will encourage us to value that freedom, and to give thanks for it. Above all I hope that it will give us courage to face the future, not bowed down by fears and disappointment, but with hope, because through the extraordinary horror and suffering of the world wars, a new and better world was born.
Remembrance Sunday, 9th November 2008
Why is it that we feel such a compelling need to remember those who have been killed or injured by war? Why is it that this annual time Remembrance in November is so important to us?
Well these are deep questions. But, we need periodically to remind ourselves of the great sacrifices made for us by other people. We need to remind ourselves of our history, and how we came to be the people we now are. We need to show our respect for the fallen and to give thanks for what they have won for us. And this annual reflection in November is not simply about looking back. It has profound implications for the way we live our lives and for the future that we seek to bring about.
I would like to share with you a story about Remembrance Sunday 1999 and about the changes that that it brought about for me personally. 1999 was before my priesthood days. I was working for British Gas on Homer Road, here in Solihull. We lived in Shirley, and we worshipped at St James the Great in Shirley where Fr Michael Caddy is the Rector.
Some weeks beforehand, Fr Michael had asked my wife Elaine to sing a song at the 9.30 service on Remembrance Sunday. The song was “Green Fields of France”. The song recounts the words of a weary traveller who sits down beside the gravestone of a Great War soldier and starts talking to the dead Soldier.
In the days building up to Remembrance Sunday Elaine was practising her singing around the house. As this went on I began to find it more and more annoying! It’s not, I am sure you understand, that my wife is bad at singing; quite the opposite in fact, but I realised it was a particular line from the song which was annoying me. The line was “I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean.” I pondered this line, “I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean” and I realised that the reason I did not like it was because it seemed to me that to hope for a quick and clean death, is rather a limited hope. Certainly I found that my own hope for the dead soldier was much bigger than that, much fuller than that.
First of all I found that I wanted to hope that the soldier was now enjoying eternal life. I wanted to hope that as he died on the battle field he was met by the angels and saints and led away to a heavenly reward in Jesus’ eternal kingdom.
Then I wanted to hope that the value of his sacrifice was properly recognised. Surely, his sacrifice makes up for a multitude of sins, and helps humanity to be reconciled to God. Surely his sacrifice contributed towards the winning of the war, and the securing of freedom for this nation. I found I wanted to hope that it also contributed to reconciliation between nations, and towards the building of peace and justice in the whole world.
Then I found I wanted to say thank you to the soldier for the great contribution he has made. To thank him for his sacrifice, to recognise and value the great cost that was paid. To recognise and value the loss borne by others; by the parents who mourn, by the sweetheart who perhaps lost a future husband, by friends and comrades and those who had lost a brother.
As I said, I pondered these things and wrote them down and discussed them with Fr Michael. Fr Michael invited me to share these things with the congregation after Elaine had sung the song. I did that, and I suppose, in a way, it was one of my first ever sermons.
In my reactions to the song I said that “I wanted to hope”. And I think that this is the situation for many of us on Remembrance Sunday. We want to hope in these things. We profoundly want them. At the same time, we have to admit that it can be difficult. In this day and age it is hard to have faith. It is hard to see value in suffering. It is hard to have hope that the world is guided by a God who is good, that it is getting closer to a destiny that is good.
And that was the strange thing; the truly remarkable thing. As I worked through the Remembrance process in 1999, I discovered that despite all the difficulties, despite all the suffering, I really did believe in these things. I really did hope for the eternal life of the soldier. I really did value his sacrifice. I really did believe that it brought closer the peace and unity of the world. I really was thankful for the difference the dead soldier made. I did feel some real empathy with the great cost that was paid.
After the remembrance service of 1999 my wife asked when I was going to get ordained; that is to become a priest. I laughed it off, but just seven weeks later I had an extraordinary dream. I realised that ordination was indeed the way forward for me, the way that God calls me, personally, to make my own small contribution.
So the process of remembrance in 1999 made a huge difference to me. It is my hope that in 2008, and indeed in every year, the Remembrance process that we go through will make a difference. I hope that it will remind us of the blood, sweat and tears, and above all the many, many lives that have been invested in the freedom of our nation today. I hope that it will encourage us to value that freedom, and to give thanks for it. Above all I hope that it will give us courage to face the future, not bowed down by fears and disappointment, but with hope, because through the extraordinary horror and suffering of the world wars, a new and better world was born.
26 October 2008
Loving God & neighbour, to please God not mortals
Thought for pew slip 26th October 2008
Last Sunday after Trinity - Proper 25, Year A
Readings Leviticus 19: 1-2 &15-18 1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8 Matthew 22: 34-46
In our gospel reading today Jesus tells us that the greatest and first commandment is to love God. The second commandment is to love our neighbours. Jesus says this second commandment is “like” the first. This is because God created people in his own image and likeness and is, in some way, present in all people. We therefore have to treat all people with the most profound respect, loving them as an expression of our love for God; loving them as God loves them.
When Jesus says, “Love your neighbour” he is quoting from the ancient Jewish law in the book of Leviticus. Our first reading today is from this section of Leviticus. The reading gives some practical examples about what loving our neighbour means. Notice that loving our neighbour is about loving God in them, as God loves them. It is not always about being partial to them or deferring to them.
Paul gives more examples like this in the reading from 1 Thessalonians. He is insistent that he must preach the gospel in order to please God, not mortals. In fact it is clear that some mortals have been very unpleased! Notice that Paul’s caring for his fellow Christians compels him to share his own self with them. We are called to lives that are shared in Christ; our Christianity is not a private matter.
Last Sunday after Trinity - Proper 25, Year A
Readings Leviticus 19: 1-2 &15-18 1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8 Matthew 22: 34-46
In our gospel reading today Jesus tells us that the greatest and first commandment is to love God. The second commandment is to love our neighbours. Jesus says this second commandment is “like” the first. This is because God created people in his own image and likeness and is, in some way, present in all people. We therefore have to treat all people with the most profound respect, loving them as an expression of our love for God; loving them as God loves them.
When Jesus says, “Love your neighbour” he is quoting from the ancient Jewish law in the book of Leviticus. Our first reading today is from this section of Leviticus. The reading gives some practical examples about what loving our neighbour means. Notice that loving our neighbour is about loving God in them, as God loves them. It is not always about being partial to them or deferring to them.
Paul gives more examples like this in the reading from 1 Thessalonians. He is insistent that he must preach the gospel in order to please God, not mortals. In fact it is clear that some mortals have been very unpleased! Notice that Paul’s caring for his fellow Christians compels him to share his own self with them. We are called to lives that are shared in Christ; our Christianity is not a private matter.
19 October 2008
Giving to God the things which are God's
Sermon preached at Solihull School Chapel at 6.30pm Coral Evensong
Sunday 19th October 2008, Trinity 22, Proper 24 Year A
Readings: Isaiah 45: 1-7 Matthew 22: 15-22
Lady Nancy Astor once looked Winston Churchill in the eye and said, “If you were my husband, I'd poison your tea.” Churchill looked back at her and said, “Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it.” It was a quite brilliant, if rather hurtful, repost.
I heard another one recently. A man at a diner party in New York was asked what he did for a living. He replied, “Oh I hate it when people ask that. Nowadays I don’t like to admit it … but I’m an investment banker.” There was silence around the dinner table. Then the reply came, “Don’t worry about it! Next week you’ll be able to say that you’re unemployed.”
I think we all admire a good repost. My trouble is that I always think of the good repost five minutes after I needed it. It seems that this is a very common problem. The French apparently have two different words to distinguish the repost you actually made from the repost you would have like to have made if you had had time to think about it.
In our gospel reading today we heard about Jesus giving a quite brilliant response to a very difficult question. In fact it was a trick question, specifically designed to catch Jesus out.
At the time of Jesus, God’s chosen people, the Jews, were living in Judea and Galilee. This was the land that God had promised to their forefather Abraham almost 2000 years earlier. It was good for them to live in this land, but the trouble was that had been conquered by the Romans and they were ruled by the Romans. Cunningly, the Romans had put, a Jewish man, King Herod, in charge, so it was Jews governing Jews, but there was no doubt that the Rome Emperor was ultimately in control. On anything really important the Romans made sure that King Herod did what they told him. Taxes were collected and paid to the Romans. The Roman army of occupation was always there should there be any failure to cooperate with the Roman Empire.
For the Jews, this Roman occupation was a terrible humiliation. They had a very clear religious understanding that they were God’s chosen people; that they were destined to be a great nation and to be owners of this land and to be a nation so blessed that through them all the nations of the world would be blessed (e.g. Gen 12: 2, 13: 15). Being ruled by the Roman did not make them feel like a great nation. Being ruled by the Romans did not feel like a blessing, it felt like a curse. It was a violation of the land that God had promised to them. So the Roman occupation was not just a humiliation, it was also a religious evil, something all good Jews should struggle against.
Jesus was asked, “Is it lawful [under the ancient Jewish religious law] to pay taxes to the [Roman] emperor?” If he said, “Yes” then he would be seen to be denying the Jews understanding of themselves as a great nation, God’s chosen people and as owners of the land. Jesus’ enemies would be able to portray him as a collaborator with the Romans, a traitor, an enemy of God and of God’s people. On the other hand if Jesus said, “No!” then his enemies would be able to portray him as an enemy of the Roman Empire. They would be able to report him to the Roman authorities, who would no doubt punish him very severely for daring to say that taxes should not be paid to Rome.
So what did Jesus do? He asked them to show him the coin with which the taxes are paid. They showed him one of the Roman coins. He asked, “Whose head is this on the coin? Whose title?”
“It’s the Emperor’s” they replied. Jesus said, “Give therefore to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” In other words pay the taxes to the Roman’s but continue to give to God the things that God wants from you.
It is, I think, the most brilliant advice. Usually we have no choice but to give to the authorities the things, like tax, that the authorities want from us. But we should not let this distract us from giving to God the things God wants from us.
So what does God want from us? What does it mean for us to give to God the things that are God’s? Well first of all I think it means giving God credit for, and thanks for all he has given us; for our lives, our families, our world, our houses and schools, all the people around us and all the good things we have. These things do not come to us by accident or by our own hard work (although sometimes we do need to work hard). They come to us by God’s good gift and we need to give thanks for that.
Then we need to give to God proper time and attention. It is all too easy to let a day slip by without saying our prayers, to let a Sunday slip by without going to church. But saying our prayers and coming to church does help us to give attention to God. It does help us to be attentive to the things that really matter. It does help us to know the ways of heaven and to grow towards eternal life.
Then we need to show our love for God in the people who are around us. Jesus said, “What you do to the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me” (Matt 25: 40). So loving the people around us is a good way of loving God. Serving the people around us can be a service to God. Giving time or attention or patience or a welcome or gifts to the people around us is a way of giving these things to God.
And if we can do these things, if we can give thanks to God, if we can set aside time for God and if we can love God in our brothers and sisters, then it seems to me that we are giving to God the things that are rightfully his. And if we give generously to God then God will richly repay us. And the gifts that God gives us are not so much things that pass away like money and health (although he often does give these) but rather things of eternal value; happiness, self-fulfilment and eternal life. Giving to God the things that are God’s is is so, so worth it!
Sunday 19th October 2008, Trinity 22, Proper 24 Year A
Readings: Isaiah 45: 1-7 Matthew 22: 15-22
Lady Nancy Astor once looked Winston Churchill in the eye and said, “If you were my husband, I'd poison your tea.” Churchill looked back at her and said, “Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it.” It was a quite brilliant, if rather hurtful, repost.
I heard another one recently. A man at a diner party in New York was asked what he did for a living. He replied, “Oh I hate it when people ask that. Nowadays I don’t like to admit it … but I’m an investment banker.” There was silence around the dinner table. Then the reply came, “Don’t worry about it! Next week you’ll be able to say that you’re unemployed.”
I think we all admire a good repost. My trouble is that I always think of the good repost five minutes after I needed it. It seems that this is a very common problem. The French apparently have two different words to distinguish the repost you actually made from the repost you would have like to have made if you had had time to think about it.
In our gospel reading today we heard about Jesus giving a quite brilliant response to a very difficult question. In fact it was a trick question, specifically designed to catch Jesus out.
At the time of Jesus, God’s chosen people, the Jews, were living in Judea and Galilee. This was the land that God had promised to their forefather Abraham almost 2000 years earlier. It was good for them to live in this land, but the trouble was that had been conquered by the Romans and they were ruled by the Romans. Cunningly, the Romans had put, a Jewish man, King Herod, in charge, so it was Jews governing Jews, but there was no doubt that the Rome Emperor was ultimately in control. On anything really important the Romans made sure that King Herod did what they told him. Taxes were collected and paid to the Romans. The Roman army of occupation was always there should there be any failure to cooperate with the Roman Empire.
For the Jews, this Roman occupation was a terrible humiliation. They had a very clear religious understanding that they were God’s chosen people; that they were destined to be a great nation and to be owners of this land and to be a nation so blessed that through them all the nations of the world would be blessed (e.g. Gen 12: 2, 13: 15). Being ruled by the Roman did not make them feel like a great nation. Being ruled by the Romans did not feel like a blessing, it felt like a curse. It was a violation of the land that God had promised to them. So the Roman occupation was not just a humiliation, it was also a religious evil, something all good Jews should struggle against.
Jesus was asked, “Is it lawful [under the ancient Jewish religious law] to pay taxes to the [Roman] emperor?” If he said, “Yes” then he would be seen to be denying the Jews understanding of themselves as a great nation, God’s chosen people and as owners of the land. Jesus’ enemies would be able to portray him as a collaborator with the Romans, a traitor, an enemy of God and of God’s people. On the other hand if Jesus said, “No!” then his enemies would be able to portray him as an enemy of the Roman Empire. They would be able to report him to the Roman authorities, who would no doubt punish him very severely for daring to say that taxes should not be paid to Rome.
So what did Jesus do? He asked them to show him the coin with which the taxes are paid. They showed him one of the Roman coins. He asked, “Whose head is this on the coin? Whose title?”
“It’s the Emperor’s” they replied. Jesus said, “Give therefore to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” In other words pay the taxes to the Roman’s but continue to give to God the things that God wants from you.
It is, I think, the most brilliant advice. Usually we have no choice but to give to the authorities the things, like tax, that the authorities want from us. But we should not let this distract us from giving to God the things God wants from us.
So what does God want from us? What does it mean for us to give to God the things that are God’s? Well first of all I think it means giving God credit for, and thanks for all he has given us; for our lives, our families, our world, our houses and schools, all the people around us and all the good things we have. These things do not come to us by accident or by our own hard work (although sometimes we do need to work hard). They come to us by God’s good gift and we need to give thanks for that.
Then we need to give to God proper time and attention. It is all too easy to let a day slip by without saying our prayers, to let a Sunday slip by without going to church. But saying our prayers and coming to church does help us to give attention to God. It does help us to be attentive to the things that really matter. It does help us to know the ways of heaven and to grow towards eternal life.
Then we need to show our love for God in the people who are around us. Jesus said, “What you do to the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me” (Matt 25: 40). So loving the people around us is a good way of loving God. Serving the people around us can be a service to God. Giving time or attention or patience or a welcome or gifts to the people around us is a way of giving these things to God.
And if we can do these things, if we can give thanks to God, if we can set aside time for God and if we can love God in our brothers and sisters, then it seems to me that we are giving to God the things that are rightfully his. And if we give generously to God then God will richly repay us. And the gifts that God gives us are not so much things that pass away like money and health (although he often does give these) but rather things of eternal value; happiness, self-fulfilment and eternal life. Giving to God the things that are God’s is is so, so worth it!
Dedication Sunday - our church buildings
Sermon preached at 11am Eucharist at St Catherine’s, Catherine-de-Barnes, Solihull
19th October 2008, Dedication Sunday, Year A
(A shortened version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull)
Readings: 1 Kings 8: 22-30 [Hebrews 12: 18-24] Matthew 21: 12-16
Our Old Testament lesson today was part of a prayer made by King Solomon as he dedicated the huge temple that he had built in Jerusalem. This happened perhaps round about 950 years before Christ. Let’s do a quick re-cap on some of the history so we understand what this was all about.
After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land it took the Israelites three hundred years or so to consolidating themselves in the Promised Land. Then King David had many military successes. The nation became more secure and he established a capital for the people of Israel at Jerusalem. King David longed to build a permanent temple for the Lord in Jerusalem, but God told him that this work would be completed by his son Solomon. After David’s death Solomon was king. He was a wise king and became immensely wealthy. These were the real glory days of the Kingdom of Israel. Solomon did indeed build a temple for the Lord. It was a huge project and Solomon spared no expense. A massive and wonderful temple was constructed, and it was decorated with much gold and bronze and many fine things.
When the temple was competed a huge dedication festival was planned (1 Kings 8). [The arc of the covenant, which represented God’s presence with the people of Israel, was brought down from Mount Zion. Inside the arc were the two tablets of the Ten Commandments on which God’s covenant with Israel was based. The arc was placed in the holiest past of the temple and mysteriously a cloud appeared and filled that whole part of the temple so all the priests had to come out to get away from the cloud.] The whole people of Israel were assembled and King Solomon made a great speech explaining all about the temple and why it had been built. And then Solomon had made a great prayer to God reminding God of his promise that his “name shall be there” and asking that God would listen to the prayers of the people who prayed there.
Solomon’s prayer was a very long prayer, but we got the start of it in our Old Testament reading. And in this part of the prayer Solomon says a very interesting thing. He says, “Even heaven … cannot contain you [Oh God], how much less can this house which I have built contain you!” God is everywhere, so it is not really that God is in any way more present in the temple in Jerusalem or in our own church buildings, than he is present anywhere else. Rather the point is that the temple in Jerusalem, and our own church buildings are places dedicated, that is to say they are set aside for God, for the worship of God. [And the fact that they are set aside for God, does limit what else can go on in them. In our gospel reading we heard Jesus casting out the buyers and seller and money changers. Jesus says that the temple should not be a den of robbers but rather should be a place of prayer.] And hopefully, because this space is set aside for God, there will be things here like our stained glass, like our altar, which point us towards the presence of God. Also hopefully here there are less distractions, less other things going on, and so in this space in particular we will be aware of the presence of God.
And in the church we always do what we can to build the presence of God, to become more attentive to the presence of God, to grow in awareness of the presence of God. Above all we do this through our worship. Let’s just pause for a moment to remember the special ways that God is present to us as we worship here in this place.
First of all, as we gather here for worship, we meet in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus has promised that where two or three gather in his name, there he is in the midst of them (Matt 18: 20). So it is important that we truly gather in the name of Jesus, in his essence, in his reconciling love, and then Jesus will be present in the midst of us, and we will feel our hearts burn within us, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Then perhaps most obviously, we celebrate the Eucharist here. Christ becomes present to us in bread and wine; we share in his body and blood, and he shares his life with us.
Then, in this place, we read the bible. God becomes present to us in his word proclaimed. We try to allow the word of God to enter into, to change our attitudes and behaviours so that Christ is us may grow in us.
And the presence of God is of great value to us. It is a life giving presence that nurtures us and helps us to grow. The presence of God, helps our relationship with God to grow, helping us to understand who we truly are. The presence of God helps us as individuals and all together to become the people God created us to be. Certainly the presence of God can be uncomfortable. It can make us aware of our sins, of those parts of our lives which are not aligned with God’s will. It can make us aware of the hollowness and fragility of large parts of our lives. It can make us aware of our lack of commitment, our failures to put God in the first place in our lives. But as we work through the pain and discomfort of these realisations, the presence of God assures us that we are loved, that we are forgiven, that we are called to life in Christ. By the presence of God we are healed and made whole.
Now the presence of God does not depend on a church building. It depends on God and on us. But as a place set aside for God, with less distractions, the church building can certainly help us to focus and to do all our part. It is certainly a good place to seek the presence of God. So let us give thanks to God for our Church buildings. Let’s seek to dwell always in the transforming presence of God and let’s allow our church buildings to help us.
19th October 2008, Dedication Sunday, Year A
(A shortened version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull)
Readings: 1 Kings 8: 22-30 [Hebrews 12: 18-24] Matthew 21: 12-16
Our Old Testament lesson today was part of a prayer made by King Solomon as he dedicated the huge temple that he had built in Jerusalem. This happened perhaps round about 950 years before Christ. Let’s do a quick re-cap on some of the history so we understand what this was all about.
After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land it took the Israelites three hundred years or so to consolidating themselves in the Promised Land. Then King David had many military successes. The nation became more secure and he established a capital for the people of Israel at Jerusalem. King David longed to build a permanent temple for the Lord in Jerusalem, but God told him that this work would be completed by his son Solomon. After David’s death Solomon was king. He was a wise king and became immensely wealthy. These were the real glory days of the Kingdom of Israel. Solomon did indeed build a temple for the Lord. It was a huge project and Solomon spared no expense. A massive and wonderful temple was constructed, and it was decorated with much gold and bronze and many fine things.
When the temple was competed a huge dedication festival was planned (1 Kings 8). [The arc of the covenant, which represented God’s presence with the people of Israel, was brought down from Mount Zion. Inside the arc were the two tablets of the Ten Commandments on which God’s covenant with Israel was based. The arc was placed in the holiest past of the temple and mysteriously a cloud appeared and filled that whole part of the temple so all the priests had to come out to get away from the cloud.] The whole people of Israel were assembled and King Solomon made a great speech explaining all about the temple and why it had been built. And then Solomon had made a great prayer to God reminding God of his promise that his “name shall be there” and asking that God would listen to the prayers of the people who prayed there.
Solomon’s prayer was a very long prayer, but we got the start of it in our Old Testament reading. And in this part of the prayer Solomon says a very interesting thing. He says, “Even heaven … cannot contain you [Oh God], how much less can this house which I have built contain you!” God is everywhere, so it is not really that God is in any way more present in the temple in Jerusalem or in our own church buildings, than he is present anywhere else. Rather the point is that the temple in Jerusalem, and our own church buildings are places dedicated, that is to say they are set aside for God, for the worship of God. [And the fact that they are set aside for God, does limit what else can go on in them. In our gospel reading we heard Jesus casting out the buyers and seller and money changers. Jesus says that the temple should not be a den of robbers but rather should be a place of prayer.] And hopefully, because this space is set aside for God, there will be things here like our stained glass, like our altar, which point us towards the presence of God. Also hopefully here there are less distractions, less other things going on, and so in this space in particular we will be aware of the presence of God.
And in the church we always do what we can to build the presence of God, to become more attentive to the presence of God, to grow in awareness of the presence of God. Above all we do this through our worship. Let’s just pause for a moment to remember the special ways that God is present to us as we worship here in this place.
First of all, as we gather here for worship, we meet in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus has promised that where two or three gather in his name, there he is in the midst of them (Matt 18: 20). So it is important that we truly gather in the name of Jesus, in his essence, in his reconciling love, and then Jesus will be present in the midst of us, and we will feel our hearts burn within us, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Then perhaps most obviously, we celebrate the Eucharist here. Christ becomes present to us in bread and wine; we share in his body and blood, and he shares his life with us.
Then, in this place, we read the bible. God becomes present to us in his word proclaimed. We try to allow the word of God to enter into, to change our attitudes and behaviours so that Christ is us may grow in us.
And the presence of God is of great value to us. It is a life giving presence that nurtures us and helps us to grow. The presence of God, helps our relationship with God to grow, helping us to understand who we truly are. The presence of God helps us as individuals and all together to become the people God created us to be. Certainly the presence of God can be uncomfortable. It can make us aware of our sins, of those parts of our lives which are not aligned with God’s will. It can make us aware of the hollowness and fragility of large parts of our lives. It can make us aware of our lack of commitment, our failures to put God in the first place in our lives. But as we work through the pain and discomfort of these realisations, the presence of God assures us that we are loved, that we are forgiven, that we are called to life in Christ. By the presence of God we are healed and made whole.
Now the presence of God does not depend on a church building. It depends on God and on us. But as a place set aside for God, with less distractions, the church building can certainly help us to focus and to do all our part. It is certainly a good place to seek the presence of God. So let us give thanks to God for our Church buildings. Let’s seek to dwell always in the transforming presence of God and let’s allow our church buildings to help us.
12 October 2008
Addicted to wealth
Sermon preached at 18:30 Choral Evensong at St Alphege, Solihull
Sunday 12th October 2008, Harvest festival
Readings: Joel 2: 21-27 1 Timothy 6: 6-10
1 Timothy 6: 9: “But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into destruction.” It seems to me that in this one sentence, St Paul very neatly summarises the situation of our western society today. Paul goes on, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wondered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.” When I read these words, I could not help but think of the credit crunch and of our current financial crisis. How profoundly true these words of St Paul are!
For far, far too long our society has been slave to the desire to be rich and to the love of money. In the 1970s this was a collective desire, exemplified in the demands of Trade Unionists, which often took little account of economic reality. The problems this caused built up until we had the paralysing winter of discontent in 1979. In the 1980s there was a clear political decision to break down the collective greed associated with Trade Unionism by colluding with a new kind of individualistic greed. The YUPPIE (Young Urban Professional) was born. The banks were deregulated, much of traditional British industry disappeared and new service industries appeared. “Job for life” positions and company loyalty both went out of the window together. Gordon Gekko made his “Greed is Good” speech in the film Wall Street. Trade Unionism took a terrible beating. The salaries of top bankers and company directors started to increase rapidly. And after the initial economic shock, there did appear to be some benefits of this new approach. British industry became more flexible and competitive. The rich got richer but there was a significant trick down effect that benefited most people, except the unemployed, whose numbers grew significantly.
The trouble was that this new approach to economics was powered by the individuals motivated by the desire for more money. Performance related pay became commonplace. The trickledown effect started to dry up, such that the rich are now getting richer and the poor, poorer. We have become more and more dependent on financial reward the motivation reason for working. Investments in the City of London have become more and more short term in their outlook and more and more complex in their nature. And now suddenly we are finding that it is all grinding to a halt. Suddenly we have our worst economic crisis since the great depression.
Now the government, supported by all the political parties, has committed a great deal of tax payers money to addressing the immediate causes of the crisis; the lack of liquidity, under capitalisation in banks and lack of trust in banks as borrowers. So far these measures have not been as effective as we might have hoped, but it seems to me that even if the situation is stabilised and we get away with a minor recession rather than a great depression even if these things happen then still some serious underlying problems remain.
As a society we are still addicted to money. We still need the promise of more money, to make us want to do anything. And we are all caught up in this. The attitudes might be at there most extreme amongst the big bankers, but we all share these attitudes. We all hope for an annual pay rise. We all feel hard done by if our neighbour gets better financial treatment than we do. We none of us find financial giving easy. There is no room for feeling smug or self righteous about the fall of top bankers. We are all in this together.
So how do we reform ourselves? How do we start to rebuild the attitudes of trust and integrity needed for economic success. How do we rebuild the values that lead to wealth creation. Well I have to say I don’t think it is easy; in fact I think it is very hard and I fear that it will take a long and severe economic downturn to make us do it.
At a policy level it seems to me essential that we rediscover committed business relationships as the only sound basis for economic wealth. For example, there should always be a close relationship and deep understanding between borrower and lender. If the loan works well then both parties benefit, if the loan fails then both parties lose out. This shared interest in the positive outcome of a loan has been undermined in recent years. The selling on of securitised of mortgages, the trade in credit default swaps, the practice of insuring against none repayment, the outsourcing of the understanding a borrowers credit risk to credit assessment agencies, all these measures can undermine the proper incentives that should arise between borrower and lender.
Similarly issues exist in the relationships between investors and company. Investors like Warren Buffet have always argued that equity shares are long term investments and commitments to the company. They are a commitment to the company and should signify some practical interest in the way the company behaves. If we simply try to make money by buying in and selling out at the right moment, or by loaning the stock out to others, then we undermine the key ownership relationship.
Most especially there is the relationship of fiduciary duty between an owner of a business or business interests and the managers and agents who run those ownership interests on a day to day level. The managers and agents must work to the best interests of the owner. If they are arranging things for their own profit or power and paying themselves huge sums then the agency relationship is undermined. It becomes a relationship of mutual exploitation and ultimately value is destroyed.
And underlying all these policy issues are the values that wealth depends on. Harvest Festival is a very important time for remembering before God all the many, many blessings that we do have in terms of our food and our material wealth. Remembering this and giving thanks to God for it helps us to appreciate how blessed we already are, and helps to reduce are need for further material blessing.
Then I think we need to remember that wealth and poverty are ultimately gifts from God which in his great love he allocates as he chooses. In our first reading we heard from the book of Joel, God promising great blessings to Israel. He says that the land will produce richly and the farm animals multiply. Israel shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. God will pay back for years when he sent the great swarming locusts to destroy all the crops. Obviously we have to do our part to work with God on the creation of wealth, but ultimately wealth or poverty is more God’s gift. We have to see ourselves as the stewards of the good gifts that god has given us, rather than as people who deserve something. Ironically it is our detachment from wealth and our the willingness to loose our wealth for God that is central to all our efforts to build wealth.
Sunday 12th October 2008, Harvest festival
Readings: Joel 2: 21-27 1 Timothy 6: 6-10
1 Timothy 6: 9: “But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into destruction.” It seems to me that in this one sentence, St Paul very neatly summarises the situation of our western society today. Paul goes on, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wondered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.” When I read these words, I could not help but think of the credit crunch and of our current financial crisis. How profoundly true these words of St Paul are!
For far, far too long our society has been slave to the desire to be rich and to the love of money. In the 1970s this was a collective desire, exemplified in the demands of Trade Unionists, which often took little account of economic reality. The problems this caused built up until we had the paralysing winter of discontent in 1979. In the 1980s there was a clear political decision to break down the collective greed associated with Trade Unionism by colluding with a new kind of individualistic greed. The YUPPIE (Young Urban Professional) was born. The banks were deregulated, much of traditional British industry disappeared and new service industries appeared. “Job for life” positions and company loyalty both went out of the window together. Gordon Gekko made his “Greed is Good” speech in the film Wall Street. Trade Unionism took a terrible beating. The salaries of top bankers and company directors started to increase rapidly. And after the initial economic shock, there did appear to be some benefits of this new approach. British industry became more flexible and competitive. The rich got richer but there was a significant trick down effect that benefited most people, except the unemployed, whose numbers grew significantly.
The trouble was that this new approach to economics was powered by the individuals motivated by the desire for more money. Performance related pay became commonplace. The trickledown effect started to dry up, such that the rich are now getting richer and the poor, poorer. We have become more and more dependent on financial reward the motivation reason for working. Investments in the City of London have become more and more short term in their outlook and more and more complex in their nature. And now suddenly we are finding that it is all grinding to a halt. Suddenly we have our worst economic crisis since the great depression.
Now the government, supported by all the political parties, has committed a great deal of tax payers money to addressing the immediate causes of the crisis; the lack of liquidity, under capitalisation in banks and lack of trust in banks as borrowers. So far these measures have not been as effective as we might have hoped, but it seems to me that even if the situation is stabilised and we get away with a minor recession rather than a great depression even if these things happen then still some serious underlying problems remain.
As a society we are still addicted to money. We still need the promise of more money, to make us want to do anything. And we are all caught up in this. The attitudes might be at there most extreme amongst the big bankers, but we all share these attitudes. We all hope for an annual pay rise. We all feel hard done by if our neighbour gets better financial treatment than we do. We none of us find financial giving easy. There is no room for feeling smug or self righteous about the fall of top bankers. We are all in this together.
So how do we reform ourselves? How do we start to rebuild the attitudes of trust and integrity needed for economic success. How do we rebuild the values that lead to wealth creation. Well I have to say I don’t think it is easy; in fact I think it is very hard and I fear that it will take a long and severe economic downturn to make us do it.
At a policy level it seems to me essential that we rediscover committed business relationships as the only sound basis for economic wealth. For example, there should always be a close relationship and deep understanding between borrower and lender. If the loan works well then both parties benefit, if the loan fails then both parties lose out. This shared interest in the positive outcome of a loan has been undermined in recent years. The selling on of securitised of mortgages, the trade in credit default swaps, the practice of insuring against none repayment, the outsourcing of the understanding a borrowers credit risk to credit assessment agencies, all these measures can undermine the proper incentives that should arise between borrower and lender.
Similarly issues exist in the relationships between investors and company. Investors like Warren Buffet have always argued that equity shares are long term investments and commitments to the company. They are a commitment to the company and should signify some practical interest in the way the company behaves. If we simply try to make money by buying in and selling out at the right moment, or by loaning the stock out to others, then we undermine the key ownership relationship.
Most especially there is the relationship of fiduciary duty between an owner of a business or business interests and the managers and agents who run those ownership interests on a day to day level. The managers and agents must work to the best interests of the owner. If they are arranging things for their own profit or power and paying themselves huge sums then the agency relationship is undermined. It becomes a relationship of mutual exploitation and ultimately value is destroyed.
And underlying all these policy issues are the values that wealth depends on. Harvest Festival is a very important time for remembering before God all the many, many blessings that we do have in terms of our food and our material wealth. Remembering this and giving thanks to God for it helps us to appreciate how blessed we already are, and helps to reduce are need for further material blessing.
Then I think we need to remember that wealth and poverty are ultimately gifts from God which in his great love he allocates as he chooses. In our first reading we heard from the book of Joel, God promising great blessings to Israel. He says that the land will produce richly and the farm animals multiply. Israel shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. God will pay back for years when he sent the great swarming locusts to destroy all the crops. Obviously we have to do our part to work with God on the creation of wealth, but ultimately wealth or poverty is more God’s gift. We have to see ourselves as the stewards of the good gifts that god has given us, rather than as people who deserve something. Ironically it is our detachment from wealth and our the willingness to loose our wealth for God that is central to all our efforts to build wealth.
Harvest Festival - God's great gifts to us
Informal sermon preached at the 9.15am All-age Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull
Sunday 12th October 2008, Harvest festival, Year A
Readings: [Deuteronomy 28: 1-14] 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15 Luke 17: 11-19
Illustrated with pictures from: www.bathurst.co.za/Pineapples.htm
Today we celebrate Harvest Festival, and at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for all the good gifts that he gives us in creation. And especially at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for our food, which grows in the ground all summer and then is harvested at this time of year.
But why should we give thanks to God for our food? We might think, “Our food grows in the ground because of nature. We pay people money to grow it at bring it to us. What has that got to do with God?” But the point is that God has provided all these things for us; the food that we eat, the people who grow it, the ground in which it grows, all these are part of God’s gift to us. And saying thank you to God is very important, because it helps us to realise this and to understand it properly. It helps us to see how deep and wide the love of God for us is.
Look, for example, at all these wonderful harvest gifts. Look at this gift of tinned pineapple.
[Pick up tin of pineapple]
It probably only cost 80 p or something a supermarket, so we might not think that it is very important. But if we pause to think about it, it is quite extraordinary how much has gone into this tin of pineapple; how much of God’s creation has contributed, how many people who God has made have played their part.
First of all someone must have planted the pineapple. Here are some pictures of some people planting pineapples in South Africa.
[Picture of tractor]
Look at the person riding behind the tractor who is placing the pineapple tops in the ground. Here is another picture where you can see it better.
[Picture of woman behind tractor with pineapple tops]
And then God sends the sun and the rain on the pineapples and they grow. Do you know what they look like when they grow? They look like that:
[Picture of man and woman in a pineapple field]
(Do you know? I thought they grew on trees; shows how much I know!)
And then the pineapples are harvested, and that is a big job. Look at all these people involved in the harvest.
[Picture of pineapple harvesting]
So that is how pineapples are grown! So I wonder if we could have someone come forward and stand here and represent all those people who are involved in the growing of the pineapple for us.
[Someone stands up with hoe and pineapple]
And perhaps someone else can stand up and represent the sun, which God sends to make the pineapple grow and ripen.
[Someone stands up with sun picture]
And perhaps someone could come and stand here with a watering can to represent the rain which God sends to water the plants and make them grow.
[Someone stands up with watering can]
But this is only the start of the story. We still have to get the pineapple from the farm to Solihull. Well at the farm the pineapples are all packed into crates so that they can be loaded onto lorries. Here is a picture of them all ready to be loaded onto lorries.
[Picture of crates and crane]
And perhaps someone could come forward and hold up this lorry to remind us of all the people involved in transporting the pineapple.
[Someone comes forward with lorry]
And then the pineapples get to the factory
[picture of people working in factory]
and they are pealed in a machine, and hand checked and then sliced in a machine and the put into tins by hand and look how many people are involved in all that! And that is before we start to think about all the people who supplied the machinery or the empty tins or the metals that the tins are made from. So let’s have some people come forward and represent all the people involved in putting a pineapple in a tin
[Someone stands up with tins]
And we are still not there yet. We have to ship the tinned pineapples to Britain.
[Someone stands up with a ship]
And there is a lot more lorry driving involved the tinned pineapples goes to a supermarket
[Someone stands up with a supermarket basket]
And someone buys it and takes it home and then brings it into church as a harvest gift, so perhaps someone can stand here who has brought in a harvest gift today.
[Someone stands up]
So there we are – amazing how many people and much of God’s creation is involved in bringing us the gift of a tin of pineapple. It is incredible that all this is done so that we can have a tin of pineapple, but it is, and we need to thank God for it.
Giving thanks to God helps us to understand the world as God made it, as God’s gift of love for us. It helps us to realise how many of God’s wonders lie behind a simple thing like a tin of pineapple. It helps us to realise many different people have given something of themselves, so that we can have some pineapple. So let’s praise God and give thanks for his great gifts to us.
Sunday 12th October 2008, Harvest festival, Year A
Readings: [Deuteronomy 28: 1-14] 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15 Luke 17: 11-19
Illustrated with pictures from: www.bathurst.co.za/Pineapples.htm
Today we celebrate Harvest Festival, and at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for all the good gifts that he gives us in creation. And especially at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for our food, which grows in the ground all summer and then is harvested at this time of year.
But why should we give thanks to God for our food? We might think, “Our food grows in the ground because of nature. We pay people money to grow it at bring it to us. What has that got to do with God?” But the point is that God has provided all these things for us; the food that we eat, the people who grow it, the ground in which it grows, all these are part of God’s gift to us. And saying thank you to God is very important, because it helps us to realise this and to understand it properly. It helps us to see how deep and wide the love of God for us is.
Look, for example, at all these wonderful harvest gifts. Look at this gift of tinned pineapple.
[Pick up tin of pineapple]
It probably only cost 80 p or something a supermarket, so we might not think that it is very important. But if we pause to think about it, it is quite extraordinary how much has gone into this tin of pineapple; how much of God’s creation has contributed, how many people who God has made have played their part.
First of all someone must have planted the pineapple. Here are some pictures of some people planting pineapples in South Africa.
[Picture of tractor]
Look at the person riding behind the tractor who is placing the pineapple tops in the ground. Here is another picture where you can see it better.
[Picture of woman behind tractor with pineapple tops]
And then God sends the sun and the rain on the pineapples and they grow. Do you know what they look like when they grow? They look like that:
[Picture of man and woman in a pineapple field]
(Do you know? I thought they grew on trees; shows how much I know!)
And then the pineapples are harvested, and that is a big job. Look at all these people involved in the harvest.
[Picture of pineapple harvesting]
So that is how pineapples are grown! So I wonder if we could have someone come forward and stand here and represent all those people who are involved in the growing of the pineapple for us.
[Someone stands up with hoe and pineapple]
And perhaps someone else can stand up and represent the sun, which God sends to make the pineapple grow and ripen.
[Someone stands up with sun picture]
And perhaps someone could come and stand here with a watering can to represent the rain which God sends to water the plants and make them grow.
[Someone stands up with watering can]
But this is only the start of the story. We still have to get the pineapple from the farm to Solihull. Well at the farm the pineapples are all packed into crates so that they can be loaded onto lorries. Here is a picture of them all ready to be loaded onto lorries.
[Picture of crates and crane]
And perhaps someone could come forward and hold up this lorry to remind us of all the people involved in transporting the pineapple.
[Someone comes forward with lorry]
And then the pineapples get to the factory
[picture of people working in factory]
and they are pealed in a machine, and hand checked and then sliced in a machine and the put into tins by hand and look how many people are involved in all that! And that is before we start to think about all the people who supplied the machinery or the empty tins or the metals that the tins are made from. So let’s have some people come forward and represent all the people involved in putting a pineapple in a tin
[Someone stands up with tins]
And we are still not there yet. We have to ship the tinned pineapples to Britain.
[Someone stands up with a ship]
And there is a lot more lorry driving involved the tinned pineapples goes to a supermarket
[Someone stands up with a supermarket basket]
And someone buys it and takes it home and then brings it into church as a harvest gift, so perhaps someone can stand here who has brought in a harvest gift today.
[Someone stands up]
So there we are – amazing how many people and much of God’s creation is involved in bringing us the gift of a tin of pineapple. It is incredible that all this is done so that we can have a tin of pineapple, but it is, and we need to thank God for it.
Giving thanks to God helps us to understand the world as God made it, as God’s gift of love for us. It helps us to realise how many of God’s wonders lie behind a simple thing like a tin of pineapple. It helps us to realise many different people have given something of themselves, so that we can have some pineapple. So let’s praise God and give thanks for his great gifts to us.
05 October 2008
Giving good friut to God
Short sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 8am Eucharist
5th October 2008 (St Francis tide around 4th October)
Trinity 20, Proper 22, Year A.
Readings: Isaiah 5: 1-7 (Philippians 3 :4b-14) Matthew 21: 33-46
When I picture St Francis I often think of him on his journeys through the countryside, passing by the olive groves and vineyards of the beautiful Umbria region of Italy. It is therefore a pleasant coincidence that our readings today include two parables about vineyards.
It is interesting to compare and contrast the two parables. Both parables compare God to the owner of a vineyard. In both cases God has invested in his vineyard, spending time, energy, money and not a little tender loving care. We can picture the vineyards. They are well dug and planted with choice vines. They are protected by walls, hedges, fences and by a watchtower. They are equipped with winepress and wine vats. In both cases God, the vineyard owner, is expecting a return on his investment in the vineyard. In both cases he is expecting a quantity of good fruit, grapes from the vineyard. In both cases he is disappointed!
But then the two parables are a little different in the way in which they represent God’s people. In the Isaiah parable God’s people are the vineyard itself, and especially they are the choice vines in the vineyard. God wants them to bare good fruit, cultivated grapes; justice and righteousness. Instead God finds that only wild grapes grow; he sees bloodshed and hears the cry of the oppressed. He is disappointed! God warns that if he continues to be disappointed then instead of tending and caring for the vineyard, he will break down its walls and let it go to ruin.
In the parable from the gospel, told by Jesus, God’s people are not the vineyard itself, but rather tenants who have rented the vineyard. The vineyard is more like the spiritual blessing they have from God, and the land in which they live. However the warning from God is the same; if the tenants do not deliver to God good fruit then they will suffer terribly and lose the vineyard. It will be given to others, who will deliver good fruit to God.
Traditionally Christians have seen this as a prophecy fulfilled in the opening up of the Church to the gentiles and in the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD; God’s promise and blessing passes from the Jews to the Church. This interpretation makes sense to the Church, but it is not the whole story. God continues to work with the Jews. Amazingly they did not die out in the first century AD and they continue to live in some covenant with God, that we in the Church struggle to understand.
However what is very clear is that we in the Church are now tenants of a vineyard. We have the same obligation to give to God good fruits of justice and righteousness, and where we fail to do this we can expect to see our world pulled apart. In these last days we have all marvelled at the collapse of financial institutions and at fragility in the financial sector. We know that the effects of this are fast spreading into our wider economy. It seems to me that it is now more important than ever that we in the Western world concentrate on delivering good fruits of justice and righteousness to God. Without this it is all too easy to envisage us being cast out of the vineyard, and the vineyard being handed over to others who will give God his rightful produce at harvest time. Let’s therefore try to grow in God’s love in our day to day lives, so that we grow some good fruit to offer to God.
5th October 2008 (St Francis tide around 4th October)
Trinity 20, Proper 22, Year A.
Readings: Isaiah 5: 1-7 (Philippians 3 :4b-14) Matthew 21: 33-46
When I picture St Francis I often think of him on his journeys through the countryside, passing by the olive groves and vineyards of the beautiful Umbria region of Italy. It is therefore a pleasant coincidence that our readings today include two parables about vineyards.
It is interesting to compare and contrast the two parables. Both parables compare God to the owner of a vineyard. In both cases God has invested in his vineyard, spending time, energy, money and not a little tender loving care. We can picture the vineyards. They are well dug and planted with choice vines. They are protected by walls, hedges, fences and by a watchtower. They are equipped with winepress and wine vats. In both cases God, the vineyard owner, is expecting a return on his investment in the vineyard. In both cases he is expecting a quantity of good fruit, grapes from the vineyard. In both cases he is disappointed!
But then the two parables are a little different in the way in which they represent God’s people. In the Isaiah parable God’s people are the vineyard itself, and especially they are the choice vines in the vineyard. God wants them to bare good fruit, cultivated grapes; justice and righteousness. Instead God finds that only wild grapes grow; he sees bloodshed and hears the cry of the oppressed. He is disappointed! God warns that if he continues to be disappointed then instead of tending and caring for the vineyard, he will break down its walls and let it go to ruin.
In the parable from the gospel, told by Jesus, God’s people are not the vineyard itself, but rather tenants who have rented the vineyard. The vineyard is more like the spiritual blessing they have from God, and the land in which they live. However the warning from God is the same; if the tenants do not deliver to God good fruit then they will suffer terribly and lose the vineyard. It will be given to others, who will deliver good fruit to God.
Traditionally Christians have seen this as a prophecy fulfilled in the opening up of the Church to the gentiles and in the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD; God’s promise and blessing passes from the Jews to the Church. This interpretation makes sense to the Church, but it is not the whole story. God continues to work with the Jews. Amazingly they did not die out in the first century AD and they continue to live in some covenant with God, that we in the Church struggle to understand.
However what is very clear is that we in the Church are now tenants of a vineyard. We have the same obligation to give to God good fruits of justice and righteousness, and where we fail to do this we can expect to see our world pulled apart. In these last days we have all marvelled at the collapse of financial institutions and at fragility in the financial sector. We know that the effects of this are fast spreading into our wider economy. It seems to me that it is now more important than ever that we in the Western world concentrate on delivering good fruits of justice and righteousness to God. Without this it is all too easy to envisage us being cast out of the vineyard, and the vineyard being handed over to others who will give God his rightful produce at harvest time. Let’s therefore try to grow in God’s love in our day to day lives, so that we grow some good fruit to offer to God.
28 September 2008
SS Michael, Gabriel and Raphael
Sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 9.15 and 11am Eucharists
Sunday 28th September 2008 – SS Michael, Gabriel and Raphael
Readings: Genesis 28: 10-17 Revelation 12: 7-12 John 1: 47-51
Today we celebrate Michaelmas, or more precisely the feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Now Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are not ordinary saints, but rather they are angels and so it is not surprising that this feast is sometimes known as St Michael and All Angels.
“And what are angels?” you might well ask. Well angels are spiritual beings which do not have bodies. They are creatures, that is to say they were created by God (Col 1: 16), but they seem to have been well established by the time that Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:1, 24). As spiritual beings, angels have their own personalities and their own free will. Some angels have chosen (as we are all free to choose) to rebel against God and to try to go their own way. These we call demons and we think of the Devil, the prince of all demons, who we read about being cast out of heaven by St Michael in our second reading today (see also 2 Peter 2: 4, Jude 6). When we use the word “angel” we are generally not thinking of demons, but rather we mean spiritual beings that are good. That is spiritual being who choose to use their free will in harmony with the will of God. They choose to do God’s work. In fact, according to St Augustine, the word “angel”, which means “messenger”, is more of a job title than a description of a particular kind of being. Psalm 103 (v20) tells us that angels are “might ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word”. So angels are powerful, spiritual beings who are the messengers of God and who do God’s will.
Now if angels are spiritual beings, who can’t been seen or touched in the visible world in which we live, how do we know anything about them? How do we even know they exist? Well first of all, angels are always much closer than we think. Psalm 34 (v7) tells us that “the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them” and psalm 97 (9-16) tells us that God will deliver those who love him, sending angels to guard them and bear them up. And so we can believe that we each have a guardian angel walking always beside us and protecting us. Certainly Jesus is thinking this when he talks about children. He says, “take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my father” (Matt 18:10). And with angels always so close to us and looking after us it is perhaps not so surprising that we do sometimes meet people who have had some experience of the presence of angels, or of angels protecting them in moments of crisis.
And this certainly seems to have been the experience of God’s people over the centuries. We find that our holy scriptures are full of references to angels. They crop up in literally hundreds of places. As our readings today illustrate, they are spread throughout the bible from Genesis, the very first book, to Revelation, the last book. We find them especially at critical moments in our salvation history; when Abraham is about sacrifice his son Isaac, when Moses is called by God to set the Israelites free, when the Blessed Virgin Mary is told she is to expect the child Jesus, at the resurrection of Christ. The other place that they appear a lot in scripture in where there are visions of heaven. Our reading from Genesis and Revelation both include visions of heaven where lots of angels were seen.
It is interesting to note that it is not just the Christian scriptures that talk about angels. The Jews and the Muslims, who also worship the God of Abraham, also have a great deal about angels in their scriptures. Michael and Gabriel are mentioned in the Muslims holy book, the Koran. The Jewish Talmud has extraordinary details about many angels including Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. It describes many different ranks of angels, and the many different heights of heaven.
And what is so special about the angels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael? Well they are the only three angels to be named in the bible. Michael is the leader of the armies of God, as we heard in our reading from Revelation. Gabriel is the angel who tells Zachariah that he is to father John the Baptist, and tells the Blessed Virgin Mary that she is to mother Jesus. Raphael appears in the apocryphal book of Tobit. He heals Tobit’s eyes so that he can see again.
So that is a bit about angels, but why are angels so important to us in our Christian lives? Well firstly they are important to us because of the practical help that they can give us in our journey towards God. I am thinking here especially of the angels that are close to us all the time, guarding us and protecting us; our guardian angels. But really this is true of all angels. As the book of Hebrews puts it, “Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). With so much help available near at hand, we do well to grow in awareness of angels, thanking god for them and sharing with them in the praising of God.
But angels are also important because they show us something of the high court of heaven. Every now and again the scriptures give us a glimpse of the majesty, splendour and awe of heaven. We saw some of this in our scripture readings today, but it happens many times. [I particularly love the passage in Isaiah when Isaiah describes his vision of the throne of God (Isaiah 6: 1-5). There are seraphs in attendance all around singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” And the thresholds shake at their singing, and the house is filled with smoke. And then there is the moment when Jesus is born and a multitude of the heavenly host appeared before the shepherds singing, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace and goodwill among people” (Luke 2: 13-14).]
And the extraordinary thing is that we are called to share in this life of heaven. God wants each one of us to be part of it all. In Luke chapter 20 (v35-36) Jesus is talking about resurrection and marriage. He says, “But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection”. We are called to share in this life of heaven and in the holiness of God (Heb 3: 1, 12: 10) like the angels. We know that all this is only fully realised after the resurrection of the dead. We know that we have a long journey to walk before we get there, because we know that we are far from being angels at the moment. But despite this, there is a sense in which it is true already. If we are in Christ then we are already part of this new creation (2 Cor 5:17). And perhaps our best chance of being aware of this is at the Eucharist, where we join with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven to praise the glorious name of God. In the Eucharist, Jesus shares his life with us. Truly it is a foretaste of the great heavenly banquet to which we are called (Revelation 19: 9). Let’s try to place ourselves in that reality as we receive Holy Communion today.
Sunday 28th September 2008 – SS Michael, Gabriel and Raphael
Readings: Genesis 28: 10-17 Revelation 12: 7-12 John 1: 47-51
Today we celebrate Michaelmas, or more precisely the feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Now Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are not ordinary saints, but rather they are angels and so it is not surprising that this feast is sometimes known as St Michael and All Angels.
“And what are angels?” you might well ask. Well angels are spiritual beings which do not have bodies. They are creatures, that is to say they were created by God (Col 1: 16), but they seem to have been well established by the time that Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:1, 24). As spiritual beings, angels have their own personalities and their own free will. Some angels have chosen (as we are all free to choose) to rebel against God and to try to go their own way. These we call demons and we think of the Devil, the prince of all demons, who we read about being cast out of heaven by St Michael in our second reading today (see also 2 Peter 2: 4, Jude 6). When we use the word “angel” we are generally not thinking of demons, but rather we mean spiritual beings that are good. That is spiritual being who choose to use their free will in harmony with the will of God. They choose to do God’s work. In fact, according to St Augustine, the word “angel”, which means “messenger”, is more of a job title than a description of a particular kind of being. Psalm 103 (v20) tells us that angels are “might ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word”. So angels are powerful, spiritual beings who are the messengers of God and who do God’s will.
Now if angels are spiritual beings, who can’t been seen or touched in the visible world in which we live, how do we know anything about them? How do we even know they exist? Well first of all, angels are always much closer than we think. Psalm 34 (v7) tells us that “the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them” and psalm 97 (9-16) tells us that God will deliver those who love him, sending angels to guard them and bear them up. And so we can believe that we each have a guardian angel walking always beside us and protecting us. Certainly Jesus is thinking this when he talks about children. He says, “take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my father” (Matt 18:10). And with angels always so close to us and looking after us it is perhaps not so surprising that we do sometimes meet people who have had some experience of the presence of angels, or of angels protecting them in moments of crisis.
And this certainly seems to have been the experience of God’s people over the centuries. We find that our holy scriptures are full of references to angels. They crop up in literally hundreds of places. As our readings today illustrate, they are spread throughout the bible from Genesis, the very first book, to Revelation, the last book. We find them especially at critical moments in our salvation history; when Abraham is about sacrifice his son Isaac, when Moses is called by God to set the Israelites free, when the Blessed Virgin Mary is told she is to expect the child Jesus, at the resurrection of Christ. The other place that they appear a lot in scripture in where there are visions of heaven. Our reading from Genesis and Revelation both include visions of heaven where lots of angels were seen.
It is interesting to note that it is not just the Christian scriptures that talk about angels. The Jews and the Muslims, who also worship the God of Abraham, also have a great deal about angels in their scriptures. Michael and Gabriel are mentioned in the Muslims holy book, the Koran. The Jewish Talmud has extraordinary details about many angels including Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. It describes many different ranks of angels, and the many different heights of heaven.
And what is so special about the angels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael? Well they are the only three angels to be named in the bible. Michael is the leader of the armies of God, as we heard in our reading from Revelation. Gabriel is the angel who tells Zachariah that he is to father John the Baptist, and tells the Blessed Virgin Mary that she is to mother Jesus. Raphael appears in the apocryphal book of Tobit. He heals Tobit’s eyes so that he can see again.
So that is a bit about angels, but why are angels so important to us in our Christian lives? Well firstly they are important to us because of the practical help that they can give us in our journey towards God. I am thinking here especially of the angels that are close to us all the time, guarding us and protecting us; our guardian angels. But really this is true of all angels. As the book of Hebrews puts it, “Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). With so much help available near at hand, we do well to grow in awareness of angels, thanking god for them and sharing with them in the praising of God.
But angels are also important because they show us something of the high court of heaven. Every now and again the scriptures give us a glimpse of the majesty, splendour and awe of heaven. We saw some of this in our scripture readings today, but it happens many times. [I particularly love the passage in Isaiah when Isaiah describes his vision of the throne of God (Isaiah 6: 1-5). There are seraphs in attendance all around singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” And the thresholds shake at their singing, and the house is filled with smoke. And then there is the moment when Jesus is born and a multitude of the heavenly host appeared before the shepherds singing, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace and goodwill among people” (Luke 2: 13-14).]
And the extraordinary thing is that we are called to share in this life of heaven. God wants each one of us to be part of it all. In Luke chapter 20 (v35-36) Jesus is talking about resurrection and marriage. He says, “But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection”. We are called to share in this life of heaven and in the holiness of God (Heb 3: 1, 12: 10) like the angels. We know that all this is only fully realised after the resurrection of the dead. We know that we have a long journey to walk before we get there, because we know that we are far from being angels at the moment. But despite this, there is a sense in which it is true already. If we are in Christ then we are already part of this new creation (2 Cor 5:17). And perhaps our best chance of being aware of this is at the Eucharist, where we join with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven to praise the glorious name of God. In the Eucharist, Jesus shares his life with us. Truly it is a foretaste of the great heavenly banquet to which we are called (Revelation 19: 9). Let’s try to place ourselves in that reality as we receive Holy Communion today.
21 September 2008
Human fairness and God's justice
Sermon 21/09/08
Preached at the Eucharist at St Catherine’s, Catherine-de-Barnes at 11am on
Sunday 21st September 2008 - Trinity 18 – Proper 20 – Year A
Readings: Jonah 3: 10 - 4:11 Philippians 1: 21-30 Matthew 20: 1-16
In 1987 I joined British Gas as employee. At that time in British Gas there used to be an annual pay negotiation. The unions would argue that gas workers should get a pay rise to give them parity with what was earned by staff in telecoms or the electricity board. The management would argue that a more appropriate comparison was with council workers and the water board, and gas employees already received more than what theses groups earned. In the end a compromise was always worked out, but to achieve this, the management and unions had to put aside their chosen comparisons and focus on what made sense for the gas industry.
We know that comparison with other people is a very common way of determining appropriate pay in the working world. But we also know from today’s gospel reading that this is NOT how the kingdom of heaven works! In the parable there were some workers who had started work in the early morning, some had started at 9, some at noon, some at 3 and some at 5. At 6, when everybody finished work and was paid the landowner chose to give each one the normal full daily wage. It is very, very easy for us human beings to understand why the people who started work first thing in the morning might find that frustrating. The landowner has been very generous to some people, who started work late. Those who started early might well hope that he will be generous with them too. In fact he pays exactly what was originally agreed, which felt like a fair wage when it was agreed, but now suddenly it feels very stingy because other people have done a lot better.
But Jesus tells us that this is what the kingdom of heaven of like! The truth is that God gives out his gifts just as he pleases to each different person. We should not make comparisons between different people, because if we do we soon start to think, “It’s not fair!” And it is certainly true that on a comparative basis life can be very “unfair”. This “unfairness” is most obvious in the way people are born. Some people are born rich, beautiful and intelligent. Others are born poor, ugly and stupid. Some people are born into good families, are loved by their parents and grow up secure and happy. Other people are born into miserable family situations and grow up believing that nobody is out to help them and everybody is out to exploit them. But “comparative unfairness” is not just about birth. As we grow up, some people land good jobs, and buy into the housing market just before a housing boom. Other people struggle with jobs and get caught in negative equity traps on their mortgages. Some people enjoy good health, some people have poor health and some people die young from accidents or terrible diseases.
And religious gifts are not dished out equally either. Why should God have a “chosen people”? Are they any better than the rest of us? Why did God choose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be “blessed among women” (Luke 1: 42)? Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem and not in Catherine-de-Barnes?
If we think in comparative terms we can quickly start to see God as very unfair. We can even start to feel resentful or indignant towards God. But of course we know we should not think about God in this way. So why is it that God seems so completely unconcerned about fairness from a human perspective? Well this is something of a mystery which we need to ponder over time. But there is a big difference between the justice of God, and our human notions of fairness, especially comparative fairness. I would like to set out a few pointers to help us ponder the mystery.
First of all there is something very personal about our relationship with God. Each of us is completely unique. Each of us is loved by God in a way that exactly and perfectly matches our uniqueness. For each of us God has a plan, a route to eternal life, and this plan, this journey is very specifically ours; nobody else can walk the journey for us, nobody else can experience God in exactly the same way as we do. So the challenge for each one of us is not to grumble about the gifts that God has evidently given to other people, but rather to discover and make the most of and to rejoice in the gifts that God has specifically given to us personally.
Secondly, in the Church, the body of Christ, the community of Christian people the gift that God gives to one person is not solely for the benefit of that person but is for the benefit of the whole community. We all need to use our gifts for the benefit of the others. The one who can welcome, should welcome on behalf of us all. The one who can pray well should pray well on behalf of us all, the one who can make tea and coffee should do it for us all. We need to develop a culture of giving, of sharing. When we get to heaven I suspect that we will find that our gifts and good fortunes will be so perfectly shared among us that we will not pause to worry about which individual God originally gave them to.
Thirdly, as human beings we are created for eternal life. The time we spend on this earth is relatively brief, and although things might seem unfair in this earthly life they might look very different over all eternity. Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled, blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh,” (Luke 6: 20-21). St Paul teaches that the sufferings of this present life are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed (Romans 8: 18) and Peter preaches that after we have suffered for a little we will be restored, supported, strengthened and established by God (1 Peter 5:10).
Fourthly it was through his passion and death that Christ reconciled us to God. When we approach our sufferings in fellowship with Christ in his sufferings then they become immensely valuable. Through fellowship with Christ in his sufferings we can hope for fellowship with Christ in his resurrection and new life. Even if some people seem to suffer more than others in this life, we should not assume that they are less blessed. In fact the opposite might be true. Surely Jesus suffered greatly, and surely he is greatly blessed.
And I believe that we can use these four pointers to align our own lives with the kingdom of heaven, and to make our communities more like heaven. In particular we make our own contribution by seeking to walk the path that God has planned for us personally, discovering all its beauty and potential. We should not worry, but rather should rejoice, if God appears to have given other very attractive looking paths to other people. And we must also work on that culture of giving. The good things we have been given are given to us for the benefit of all. We need to be generous in giving and in receiving. Let’s not be too proud or ashamed to share in the good things that God has given to others. Rather, let’s give thanks and rejoice when this happens, because we start to make earth look more like the kingdom of heaven that Jesus described.
Preached at the Eucharist at St Catherine’s, Catherine-de-Barnes at 11am on
Sunday 21st September 2008 - Trinity 18 – Proper 20 – Year A
Readings: Jonah 3: 10 - 4:11 Philippians 1: 21-30 Matthew 20: 1-16
In 1987 I joined British Gas as employee. At that time in British Gas there used to be an annual pay negotiation. The unions would argue that gas workers should get a pay rise to give them parity with what was earned by staff in telecoms or the electricity board. The management would argue that a more appropriate comparison was with council workers and the water board, and gas employees already received more than what theses groups earned. In the end a compromise was always worked out, but to achieve this, the management and unions had to put aside their chosen comparisons and focus on what made sense for the gas industry.
We know that comparison with other people is a very common way of determining appropriate pay in the working world. But we also know from today’s gospel reading that this is NOT how the kingdom of heaven works! In the parable there were some workers who had started work in the early morning, some had started at 9, some at noon, some at 3 and some at 5. At 6, when everybody finished work and was paid the landowner chose to give each one the normal full daily wage. It is very, very easy for us human beings to understand why the people who started work first thing in the morning might find that frustrating. The landowner has been very generous to some people, who started work late. Those who started early might well hope that he will be generous with them too. In fact he pays exactly what was originally agreed, which felt like a fair wage when it was agreed, but now suddenly it feels very stingy because other people have done a lot better.
But Jesus tells us that this is what the kingdom of heaven of like! The truth is that God gives out his gifts just as he pleases to each different person. We should not make comparisons between different people, because if we do we soon start to think, “It’s not fair!” And it is certainly true that on a comparative basis life can be very “unfair”. This “unfairness” is most obvious in the way people are born. Some people are born rich, beautiful and intelligent. Others are born poor, ugly and stupid. Some people are born into good families, are loved by their parents and grow up secure and happy. Other people are born into miserable family situations and grow up believing that nobody is out to help them and everybody is out to exploit them. But “comparative unfairness” is not just about birth. As we grow up, some people land good jobs, and buy into the housing market just before a housing boom. Other people struggle with jobs and get caught in negative equity traps on their mortgages. Some people enjoy good health, some people have poor health and some people die young from accidents or terrible diseases.
And religious gifts are not dished out equally either. Why should God have a “chosen people”? Are they any better than the rest of us? Why did God choose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be “blessed among women” (Luke 1: 42)? Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem and not in Catherine-de-Barnes?
If we think in comparative terms we can quickly start to see God as very unfair. We can even start to feel resentful or indignant towards God. But of course we know we should not think about God in this way. So why is it that God seems so completely unconcerned about fairness from a human perspective? Well this is something of a mystery which we need to ponder over time. But there is a big difference between the justice of God, and our human notions of fairness, especially comparative fairness. I would like to set out a few pointers to help us ponder the mystery.
First of all there is something very personal about our relationship with God. Each of us is completely unique. Each of us is loved by God in a way that exactly and perfectly matches our uniqueness. For each of us God has a plan, a route to eternal life, and this plan, this journey is very specifically ours; nobody else can walk the journey for us, nobody else can experience God in exactly the same way as we do. So the challenge for each one of us is not to grumble about the gifts that God has evidently given to other people, but rather to discover and make the most of and to rejoice in the gifts that God has specifically given to us personally.
Secondly, in the Church, the body of Christ, the community of Christian people the gift that God gives to one person is not solely for the benefit of that person but is for the benefit of the whole community. We all need to use our gifts for the benefit of the others. The one who can welcome, should welcome on behalf of us all. The one who can pray well should pray well on behalf of us all, the one who can make tea and coffee should do it for us all. We need to develop a culture of giving, of sharing. When we get to heaven I suspect that we will find that our gifts and good fortunes will be so perfectly shared among us that we will not pause to worry about which individual God originally gave them to.
Thirdly, as human beings we are created for eternal life. The time we spend on this earth is relatively brief, and although things might seem unfair in this earthly life they might look very different over all eternity. Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled, blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh,” (Luke 6: 20-21). St Paul teaches that the sufferings of this present life are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed (Romans 8: 18) and Peter preaches that after we have suffered for a little we will be restored, supported, strengthened and established by God (1 Peter 5:10).
Fourthly it was through his passion and death that Christ reconciled us to God. When we approach our sufferings in fellowship with Christ in his sufferings then they become immensely valuable. Through fellowship with Christ in his sufferings we can hope for fellowship with Christ in his resurrection and new life. Even if some people seem to suffer more than others in this life, we should not assume that they are less blessed. In fact the opposite might be true. Surely Jesus suffered greatly, and surely he is greatly blessed.
And I believe that we can use these four pointers to align our own lives with the kingdom of heaven, and to make our communities more like heaven. In particular we make our own contribution by seeking to walk the path that God has planned for us personally, discovering all its beauty and potential. We should not worry, but rather should rejoice, if God appears to have given other very attractive looking paths to other people. And we must also work on that culture of giving. The good things we have been given are given to us for the benefit of all. We need to be generous in giving and in receiving. Let’s not be too proud or ashamed to share in the good things that God has given to others. Rather, let’s give thanks and rejoice when this happens, because we start to make earth look more like the kingdom of heaven that Jesus described.
Justice of God
Thought for parish pew slip
Sunday 21st September 2008 - Trinity 18 – Proper 20 – Year A
Readings: Jonah 3: 10 - 4:11 Philippians 1: 21-30 Matthew 20: 1-16
Our scripture readings today are about people getting what is rightfully due to them. This is the justice of God.
Our Old Testament lesson tells us about Jonah, who had been sent to tell the people of Nineveh of a great disaster that God was planning to inflict on their city. The people of Nineveh repented of their wickedness and changed their ways. God was pleased and decided not to destroy the city. Unfortunately Jonah saw this as a major loss of face and was angry with God. God taught Jonah a lesson to make him understand how much God cares for Nineveh and its people.
In his letter to the Philippians, St Paul ascribes great value to the privilege of suffering for Christ. This has been Paul’s path and it has led him to an extraordinary confidence in God, such that he is equally happy to carry on living or to die and be with Christ.
In our gospel reading some workers who have received a just wage feel they have been treated unfairly compared to other workers who have received a generous wage. The rewards of the kingdom of heaven might be just or generous, but it is not for us to make comparisons. Converting the good things others have is always a problem (e.g. Exodus 20: 17).
Sunday 21st September 2008 - Trinity 18 – Proper 20 – Year A
Readings: Jonah 3: 10 - 4:11 Philippians 1: 21-30 Matthew 20: 1-16
Our scripture readings today are about people getting what is rightfully due to them. This is the justice of God.
Our Old Testament lesson tells us about Jonah, who had been sent to tell the people of Nineveh of a great disaster that God was planning to inflict on their city. The people of Nineveh repented of their wickedness and changed their ways. God was pleased and decided not to destroy the city. Unfortunately Jonah saw this as a major loss of face and was angry with God. God taught Jonah a lesson to make him understand how much God cares for Nineveh and its people.
In his letter to the Philippians, St Paul ascribes great value to the privilege of suffering for Christ. This has been Paul’s path and it has led him to an extraordinary confidence in God, such that he is equally happy to carry on living or to die and be with Christ.
In our gospel reading some workers who have received a just wage feel they have been treated unfairly compared to other workers who have received a generous wage. The rewards of the kingdom of heaven might be just or generous, but it is not for us to make comparisons. Converting the good things others have is always a problem (e.g. Exodus 20: 17).
14 September 2008
The Secret Weapon
Informal sermon preached a Solihull 6th Scout Group Camp at Broadwater Scout Campsite, Meriden, Warwickshire on Sunday 14th September, 1.30pm.
Camp theme of “Army”.
Reading: Ephesians 6: 10-17
Very often in Christianity we are taking about love and peace and joy. So it might seem surprising that Christianity has anything to say about army camps, weapons, battles and wars. But in fact Christianity has quite a lot to say about weapons and wars, and that’s because one way of thinking about the spiritual life is thinking of it as a war.
Certainly the spiritual life can be like a war. On the one side we have God and Christ and all the angles and saints and all the hosts of heaven, and even us too, to the extent that we are managing to live in our saintly selves, following God and rejecting evil. On the other side we have the Devil and his demons and all the powers of hell, and perhaps even us too if we are rejecting God and his ways.
And what is the war between these two armies about? Well it is a war that is fought at every level. First of all it is about you and me. Are we choosing God or are we choosing the Devil? Are we choosing heaven or hell? Are we trying to become what God created us to be, or are we rejecting God and going our own way? And then it is about our families. Are they following God, or going away from God? And it is about our communities, our nation and our world. At every level this great war rages, and we need to do our part to be a good soldier of God.
Now let’s hear our reading: Ephesians 6: 10-17
So did you manage to follow that? Did you hear St Paul talking about the struggle against the spiritual forces of evil? Paul tells us to take up the whole armour of God, in order to stand firm in this great battle. He tells us to use the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith which protects us from all the arrows of the enemy. Paul tells us to take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, the word of God. And with all these weapons and all this protection we can fight well in the army of God.
But as Christians we have another weapon, a secret weapon, more powerful and more extraordinary that all the rest. This is the cross of Christ. Today, 14th September is a special day, Holy Cross Day, when we think about the cross of Christ and how it helps us in the great battle against the Devil.
When we fight in this battle, when we try to do good, when we try to love other people, when we try to walk in God’s ways and follow in his paths, we find very often that things go wrong. Very often things do not turn out as we had hoped. We find that we fail to do good. We find that we are let down by faults in us and by faults in other people. We encounter sufferings. We suffer disappointments and we can easily get discouraged. And this is exactly what happened to Jesus. Jesus spent his whole life doing good and preaching good and helping other people, and yet many people disliked him and in the end they arrested him and killed him on the cross. And at that point it looked like his life had been a complete failure. His friends had run away. He had been killed in a most horrible way. It looked like the war had been lost. It looked like the complete triumph of evil.
But on the third day God raised him from the dead. God is the source of life. Jesus is God and has life within himself. Death cannot hold Jesus. Even the very worst things that can happen, even disasters, even death, cannot keep Jesus down. He comes back with new life, new wisdom to share, new hope and with a great healing of all our broken relationships. And through the cross of Jesus we too can share in the destiny of Jesus. If we walk in the ways of Jesus we know that whatever goes wrong, what ever disasters befall, whatever deaths we die, we will continue to have life in Christ. Love is from God, and when we live in love, we live in God and death cannot hold on to us. So we can fight in the battle against evil with enormous confidence. We do not need to fear, because our secret weapon means that whatever goes wrong, whatever disasters befall, we will be alright in the end. If we follow in the way of Christ then, by his cross, we cannot lose the battle. The suffering and death of the cross make us invincible!
So let’s take courage! Let’s play our part in the great spiritual battle. Let’s struggle always for good, for the love of others. Let’s walk in the ways of God and reject evil. And when things go wrong let’s trust in the cross of Jesus, the secret weapon that wins the victory.
Camp theme of “Army”.
Reading: Ephesians 6: 10-17
Very often in Christianity we are taking about love and peace and joy. So it might seem surprising that Christianity has anything to say about army camps, weapons, battles and wars. But in fact Christianity has quite a lot to say about weapons and wars, and that’s because one way of thinking about the spiritual life is thinking of it as a war.
Certainly the spiritual life can be like a war. On the one side we have God and Christ and all the angles and saints and all the hosts of heaven, and even us too, to the extent that we are managing to live in our saintly selves, following God and rejecting evil. On the other side we have the Devil and his demons and all the powers of hell, and perhaps even us too if we are rejecting God and his ways.
And what is the war between these two armies about? Well it is a war that is fought at every level. First of all it is about you and me. Are we choosing God or are we choosing the Devil? Are we choosing heaven or hell? Are we trying to become what God created us to be, or are we rejecting God and going our own way? And then it is about our families. Are they following God, or going away from God? And it is about our communities, our nation and our world. At every level this great war rages, and we need to do our part to be a good soldier of God.
Now let’s hear our reading: Ephesians 6: 10-17
So did you manage to follow that? Did you hear St Paul talking about the struggle against the spiritual forces of evil? Paul tells us to take up the whole armour of God, in order to stand firm in this great battle. He tells us to use the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith which protects us from all the arrows of the enemy. Paul tells us to take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, the word of God. And with all these weapons and all this protection we can fight well in the army of God.
But as Christians we have another weapon, a secret weapon, more powerful and more extraordinary that all the rest. This is the cross of Christ. Today, 14th September is a special day, Holy Cross Day, when we think about the cross of Christ and how it helps us in the great battle against the Devil.
When we fight in this battle, when we try to do good, when we try to love other people, when we try to walk in God’s ways and follow in his paths, we find very often that things go wrong. Very often things do not turn out as we had hoped. We find that we fail to do good. We find that we are let down by faults in us and by faults in other people. We encounter sufferings. We suffer disappointments and we can easily get discouraged. And this is exactly what happened to Jesus. Jesus spent his whole life doing good and preaching good and helping other people, and yet many people disliked him and in the end they arrested him and killed him on the cross. And at that point it looked like his life had been a complete failure. His friends had run away. He had been killed in a most horrible way. It looked like the war had been lost. It looked like the complete triumph of evil.
But on the third day God raised him from the dead. God is the source of life. Jesus is God and has life within himself. Death cannot hold Jesus. Even the very worst things that can happen, even disasters, even death, cannot keep Jesus down. He comes back with new life, new wisdom to share, new hope and with a great healing of all our broken relationships. And through the cross of Jesus we too can share in the destiny of Jesus. If we walk in the ways of Jesus we know that whatever goes wrong, what ever disasters befall, whatever deaths we die, we will continue to have life in Christ. Love is from God, and when we live in love, we live in God and death cannot hold on to us. So we can fight in the battle against evil with enormous confidence. We do not need to fear, because our secret weapon means that whatever goes wrong, whatever disasters befall, we will be alright in the end. If we follow in the way of Christ then, by his cross, we cannot lose the battle. The suffering and death of the cross make us invincible!
So let’s take courage! Let’s play our part in the great spiritual battle. Let’s struggle always for good, for the love of others. Let’s walk in the ways of God and reject evil. And when things go wrong let’s trust in the cross of Jesus, the secret weapon that wins the victory.
Holy Cross Day
Preached at 10.00am Eucharist at St Helen’s Church, Solihull.
Sunday 14th September 2008, Holy Cross Day.
A shorter version was also preached at 8am at St. Helen's.
Readings Numbers 21: 4-9 Philippians 2:6-11 John 3: 13-17
I am sure that you have heard the phrase “Touch Wood” many times. I often hear it when I go visiting. People say something like, “Well the doctor has told me that I should be OK now, so I am really grateful for that, touch wood!” and then they look around for something wooden to touch, and they usually find something and touch it. And then they might say something like, “Well, I’m sorry…I shouldn’t be doing these supposititious things in front of you, should I?” Sometimes it seems that people have no problem with being superstitious, so long as they are not superstitious in front of the vicar (or curate)!
I spent a few minutes yesterday searching the internet for the origins of the phrase “touch wood” and I have to say I did not find anything very enlightening. However there are some intriguing references to an extraordinary series of events which happen around 325 AD. This was a very exciting period in the life of the Church. After three centuries of often brutal persecution by the Roman Empire, suddenly Rome had a Christian emperor, Constantine. Suddenly, far from being persecuted, the Church was in great favour with the state. At this time, the emperor’s mother, Helena, who we now call St Helena, went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When she went to see the place where Jesus had died and had been buried she was disappointed to find nothing but a pagan Roman temple on the site. You will recall that, as punishment for the Jewish rebelion, the Romans had completely destroyed Jerusalem and sent the Jews away in 70AD. The Roman temple was built to remind people who was in charge.
Helena ordered that the temple be demolished an excavations started to see what, if anything, remained from the time of the death of Jesus. As they dug, they found what they soon came to believe to be the tomb of Jesus and nearby they found buried three wooden crosses, including the inscription plate from Jesus’ crucifixion. This was of course very exciting. It was clear to the people involved that the three crosses were those of Jesus and the two thieves, but it was not clear which cross was which. This was resolved by bringing in a very sick lady, who in an atmosphere of intense prayer, was touched by the wood of each of the three crosses in turn. As soon as she was touched by the third cross, she was miraculously healed. This was taken as conclusive proof that the third cross was indeed the “True Cross”, the cross on which Jesus died. The True Cross quickly became one of the most important relics in Christianity, known for its healing qualities, and many legends and myths grew up around it. Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre over the whole site. It was completed in 335 AD, and it was dedicated over a two day festival on 13th and 14th September. People would come to venerate the cross on which Jesus died, and to this day we reserve 14th September as Holy Cross Day, a day for the veneration and remembrance of the cross of Jesus. The idea of healing by "touching wood" still resonates down the ages.
Now in this parish we often have some form of veneration of the cross on Good Friday. I don’t know what your practice is here, but at St Alphege we have a wooden Crucifix and one by one we come up before it. Some people kiss it, some bow reverently before it, some pray quietly. But whatever we do outwardly with our bodies and with a material wooden cross only has really value if it corresponds to what we are doing spiritually and inwardly in our relationship with Jesus dying on the cross.
The cross is absolutely central to our faith. Only two weeks ago in our gospel reading we heard Jesus say to us, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt 16: 24). In our gospel reading today Jesus was clear that, as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole, so Jesus must be lifted up, in order to bring eternal life to those who believe in him (c.f. John 3:14). And the reason that the cross is so important to Christianity is because the death of Jesus is so very closely linked to his resurrection. The new life, joy and fulfilment of the resurrection come about precisely because Jesus died on the cross.
As Christians we are always called to grow in our love for Jesus. We might find it very easy to love the baby Jesus born at Christmas time, or Jesus the wise and merciful teacher who drew great crowds. But we are also called to love Jesus on the cross; Jesus treated as a criminal, Jesus humiliated and dying, who feels himself forsaken even by God.
And I would like to suggest that we have an opportunity to do this every time any kind of suffering crosses our path. Every time we suffer a disappointment, every time someone is rude to us, every time we encounter pain, every time we become aware of faults in ourselves or in others, these are moments when we need to love Jesus dying on the cross. In each of these sufferings we can, through prayer, find a link to Christ, suffering on the cross and we can try to love him.
And this is not easy. We are usually more keen to avoid suffering, than to see and love the suffering Christ in sufferings. But Jesus did not avoid suffering. Even though he was God, he was humble enough let go of his equality with God, to become human and to walk willingly into a most horrifying human death (c.f. Phil 2:6-8). In the face of suffering Jesus did not run away, but rather he loved. He continued to love throughout his passion, even forgiving his executors.
So when encounter suffer, in ourselves or in others, let’s first of all try to find a link to the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. Then let’s try love the suffering Christ in that situation. Sometimes love will show us things we can do to alleviate the sufferings. Sometimes, like Mary watching Jesus die on the cross, we can do nothing but just stand there. Either way, the important thing is to love.
And in this way our hearts grow. Our relationship with Jesus grows. As we share more with Jesus at his death, so we share more with him at this resurrection and we experience his reconciliation and new life in our lives. Loving Jesus in all our sufferings; this is the true way to venerate the cross.
Sunday 14th September 2008, Holy Cross Day.
A shorter version was also preached at 8am at St. Helen's.
Readings Numbers 21: 4-9 Philippians 2:6-11 John 3: 13-17
I am sure that you have heard the phrase “Touch Wood” many times. I often hear it when I go visiting. People say something like, “Well the doctor has told me that I should be OK now, so I am really grateful for that, touch wood!” and then they look around for something wooden to touch, and they usually find something and touch it. And then they might say something like, “Well, I’m sorry…I shouldn’t be doing these supposititious things in front of you, should I?” Sometimes it seems that people have no problem with being superstitious, so long as they are not superstitious in front of the vicar (or curate)!
I spent a few minutes yesterday searching the internet for the origins of the phrase “touch wood” and I have to say I did not find anything very enlightening. However there are some intriguing references to an extraordinary series of events which happen around 325 AD. This was a very exciting period in the life of the Church. After three centuries of often brutal persecution by the Roman Empire, suddenly Rome had a Christian emperor, Constantine. Suddenly, far from being persecuted, the Church was in great favour with the state. At this time, the emperor’s mother, Helena, who we now call St Helena, went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When she went to see the place where Jesus had died and had been buried she was disappointed to find nothing but a pagan Roman temple on the site. You will recall that, as punishment for the Jewish rebelion, the Romans had completely destroyed Jerusalem and sent the Jews away in 70AD. The Roman temple was built to remind people who was in charge.
Helena ordered that the temple be demolished an excavations started to see what, if anything, remained from the time of the death of Jesus. As they dug, they found what they soon came to believe to be the tomb of Jesus and nearby they found buried three wooden crosses, including the inscription plate from Jesus’ crucifixion. This was of course very exciting. It was clear to the people involved that the three crosses were those of Jesus and the two thieves, but it was not clear which cross was which. This was resolved by bringing in a very sick lady, who in an atmosphere of intense prayer, was touched by the wood of each of the three crosses in turn. As soon as she was touched by the third cross, she was miraculously healed. This was taken as conclusive proof that the third cross was indeed the “True Cross”, the cross on which Jesus died. The True Cross quickly became one of the most important relics in Christianity, known for its healing qualities, and many legends and myths grew up around it. Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre over the whole site. It was completed in 335 AD, and it was dedicated over a two day festival on 13th and 14th September. People would come to venerate the cross on which Jesus died, and to this day we reserve 14th September as Holy Cross Day, a day for the veneration and remembrance of the cross of Jesus. The idea of healing by "touching wood" still resonates down the ages.
Now in this parish we often have some form of veneration of the cross on Good Friday. I don’t know what your practice is here, but at St Alphege we have a wooden Crucifix and one by one we come up before it. Some people kiss it, some bow reverently before it, some pray quietly. But whatever we do outwardly with our bodies and with a material wooden cross only has really value if it corresponds to what we are doing spiritually and inwardly in our relationship with Jesus dying on the cross.
The cross is absolutely central to our faith. Only two weeks ago in our gospel reading we heard Jesus say to us, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt 16: 24). In our gospel reading today Jesus was clear that, as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole, so Jesus must be lifted up, in order to bring eternal life to those who believe in him (c.f. John 3:14). And the reason that the cross is so important to Christianity is because the death of Jesus is so very closely linked to his resurrection. The new life, joy and fulfilment of the resurrection come about precisely because Jesus died on the cross.
As Christians we are always called to grow in our love for Jesus. We might find it very easy to love the baby Jesus born at Christmas time, or Jesus the wise and merciful teacher who drew great crowds. But we are also called to love Jesus on the cross; Jesus treated as a criminal, Jesus humiliated and dying, who feels himself forsaken even by God.
And I would like to suggest that we have an opportunity to do this every time any kind of suffering crosses our path. Every time we suffer a disappointment, every time someone is rude to us, every time we encounter pain, every time we become aware of faults in ourselves or in others, these are moments when we need to love Jesus dying on the cross. In each of these sufferings we can, through prayer, find a link to Christ, suffering on the cross and we can try to love him.
And this is not easy. We are usually more keen to avoid suffering, than to see and love the suffering Christ in sufferings. But Jesus did not avoid suffering. Even though he was God, he was humble enough let go of his equality with God, to become human and to walk willingly into a most horrifying human death (c.f. Phil 2:6-8). In the face of suffering Jesus did not run away, but rather he loved. He continued to love throughout his passion, even forgiving his executors.
So when encounter suffer, in ourselves or in others, let’s first of all try to find a link to the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. Then let’s try love the suffering Christ in that situation. Sometimes love will show us things we can do to alleviate the sufferings. Sometimes, like Mary watching Jesus die on the cross, we can do nothing but just stand there. Either way, the important thing is to love.
And in this way our hearts grow. Our relationship with Jesus grows. As we share more with Jesus at his death, so we share more with him at this resurrection and we experience his reconciliation and new life in our lives. Loving Jesus in all our sufferings; this is the true way to venerate the cross.
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